Town asking for more patrols after shooting
Residents complain about lack of police
RANCHO TEHAMA RESERVE, Calif. — Residents of a remote Northern California community terrorized by a mass shooting this week say they want more frequent patrols from sheriff ’s deputies and expressed anger and frustration over seemingly being left to fend for themselves in what several called a “Wild West” atmosphere.
The Rancho Tehama Reserve homeowners’ association board was meeting Thursday to talk about more patrols, two days after 44-year-old Kevin Neal killed his wife and four others before he died in a gun battle with deputies. Neal targeted an elementary school while randomly shooting at homes and motorists in the sprawling rural subdivision about 130 miles north of Sacramento.
Board president Juan Caravez was among those complaining that deputies didn’t do enough to stop Neal despite numerous complaints from neighbors that he was shooting guns at all hours of the day and night.
“The sheriff wouldn’t do anything about it,” Caravez said. Instead, he said Tehama County Sheriff ’s Department referred complaints to the homeowners’ association.
Residents were already complaining about the lack of law enforcement and frequent gunfire that regularly disturbed the peace of the rolling oak-studded hills dotted with homes and trailers on large lots, board member Richard Gutierrez said.
Neighbors said they had complained repeatedly about Neal shooting off rounds of gunfire from his home, despite a court order barring him from having firearms after he was accused of stabbing a neighbor in January.
Assistant Sheriff
Phil Johnston said deputies had tried to contact Neal but he wouldn’t answer his door and Johnston said deputies couldn’t find him. After being pressed by reporters on why police did not act when Neal was in clear violation of his court order, Johnston obliquely replied: “The law is only for people who obey it.”
Sheriff ’s department spokeswoman Lt. Yvette Borden did not respond to phone and email inquiries Thursday.
Gutierrez was among those praising deputies’ swift response Tuesday. Johnston said Neal was dead 25 minutes after dispatchers received the first frantic calls. The sheriff ’s headquarters is 21 miles away.
But Dillon Elliott was upset after hearing officials say road patrols had generally been increased in the last six years.
“It’s like people out here think we’re like a lawless city trying to survive, and we kinda are,” said Elliott, who grew up in the community and whose parents still live there.
Claudette Wright said deputies responded to her calls, but the bad perception remains.
“It’s always like, ‘Rancho, it’s crazy out there — it’s the Wild West’,” she said at a community prayer vigil Wednesday night.
“The perception is people think they can come out here and grow marijuana and there’s no consequences,” Wright said later, though she added that she had no complaints with law enforcement response.