Five dead, 10 hurt in gunman’s rampage in town near Red Bluff.
RANCHO TEHAMA >> Five people have reportedly been killed and 10 injured in a string of shootings that began around 8 a.m. Tuesday at Rancho Tehama Reserve, southwest of Red Bluff.
Law enforcement told reporters at the scene there were shots fired in seven locations, including Rancho Tehama School.
At least two children were shot and injured, one of them at the school, police said. The gunman was then killed by law enforcement officers who responded to the carnage unfolding across what police described as a “very widespread area.”
The shooting began shortly before 8 a.m., Phil Johnston, an assistant sheriff in Tehama County, told reporters.
Police received “multiple 911 calls of multiple different shooting sites, including the elementary school” in Rancho Tehama Reserve, a small area about 135 miles north of Sacramento, he said.
“It was very clear early on that we had a subject that was randomly picking targets,” Johnston said.
The school had been secured as of 10 a.m. and the children moved to the Recreation Hall. Authorities were working to notify parents.
Johnston said the shootings appear to have been initiated during a domestic violence incident involving neighbors, but no further details were released.
Brian Flint, 27, said his truck was stolen from his residence while he was not home and used in the shooting. He told the Daily News his roommate was among those killed.
Flint said the suspect had fired shots late at night and in the early morning on several occasions over the last month.
The shooting began at the end of Fawn Lane near Bobcat Lane, according to officers at the scene. Shots also were fired at Rancho Tehama Road near the intersection with Paskenta Road, where two people who did not know the shooter were shot in a gray Ford pickup truck.
The occupants of the gray pickup were a woman and a child and both were transported to the hospital.
Enloe Medical Center said it had five patients from the shooting, three of whom were treated and released Tuesday. Two remained hospitalized by the afternoon, according to a spokeswoman for the hospital. While their ages were not immediately available, the hospital had said earlier in the day it was treating at least three children.
Another victim was reportedly shot at the corner of Stagecoach Road and Oak Park Road, according to scanner reports.
The entire Rancho Tehama Reserve is locked down and nobody was being allowed in or out as of 10 a.m. The road was opened to media shortly after noon, but remained closed to the public. About 100 officers were at the scene and some continued to search for victims, according to scanner reports.
Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement Tuesday that he and his wife were “saddened to hear about today’s violence in Tehama County, which shockingly involved schoolchildren. We offer
our condolences to the families who lost loved ones and unite with all Californians in grief.”