Tehama County: Gunman died of suicide, authorities rule
The man who killed five people on a shooting rampage in a small Northern California town died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound — not from police gunfire — sheriff ’s officials have concluded.
Contrary to previous reports indicating the shooter, 44-year-old Kevin Janson Neal, was shot dead by law enforcement officers last month, a forensic pathologist determined Neal shot himself in the head, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston reported.
Neal killed himself after a county sheriff ’s deputy and an officer from the Corning Police Department engaged in a shootout with him at the end of a mass shooting near Neal’s home in Rancho Tehama Reserve on Nov. 14, according to a review compiled by Johnston and posted Friday. Neither officer was harmed.
The Corning officer fired four rounds at Neal and the deputy fired eight rounds, according to the report. Both have since returned to work after the Sheriff ’s Office concluded they acted in self-defense and for the safety of the community.
According to the Sheriff ’s Office account, the shooting spree, which began just before 8 a.m. and lasted less than an hour, stemmed from a dispute Neal had with neighbors. He had shot his wife to death the night before; as he drove around the rural community he killed four more people and injured several others. He picked some victims deliberately, others at random, and at one point fired several rounds into Rancho Tehama Elementary School, injuring some children.
Neal used at least two
home-built semiautomatic rifles, sheriff ’s officials said. He had been barred from having firearms due to a criminal protective order and separate restraining order after he allegedly attacked his neighbors in January.
Toward the end of the shooting spree, Neal fired from his driver’s window at a vehicle on Rancho Tehama Road driven by Francisco Cardenas, who suffered a gunshot wound in the leg and shrapnel injuries. He survived and is recovering, sheriff ’s officials said.
The Corning police officer chased Neal as he was firing, pursuing him west on Rancho Tehama Road until he could ram Neal’s vehicle from behind to force it off the road.
Neal fired at the officer, striking his car five times, according to the report. The sheriff ’s deputy soon arrived, and Neal fired at him too, hitting his car three times. The officers shot back, and then there was silence.
Neal was found dead in the driver’s seat “with an obvious gunshot wound to the head,” according to the report.