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Kevin Janson Neal: Rancho Tehama School Shooting Suspect Reportedly Identified As 43-Year-Old Man

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 10:24 PST, Nov 14, 2017

Kevin Janson Neal has been identified as the suspect who opened fire at Rancho Tehama School in Northern California, part of a widespread attack that left four people dead.

Police in Tehama County said the shooting took place across several sites including the elementary school, with Kevin Janson Neal reportedly picking targets at random. As NBC San Diego reported, the alleged gunman was shot and killed in Tehama County by law enforcement officials, who recovered a number of weapons including a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns.

Kevin Janson Neal was identified by several neighbors as the alleged gunman, reporter Jim Schultz of the Record Searchlight noted.

The shooting spree reportedly started as a domestic incident around 8 a.m. and ended up spreading across multiple locations.

Several students were shot at the elementary school, some of whom sustaining serious injuries.

“I know that we have (airlifted) a number of students,” a police spokesperson told reporters (via NBC San Diego). “I know that the school’s been cleared. I know that we have children that were attending school in a safe location at this time.”

Some initial reports indicated that two students were among those killed in the shooting, but the Sacramento Bee noted that Rich DuVarney, the Tehama County superintendent of schools, later clarified that no students or staff members at the school were killed.

It was not clear if any of the students injured in the California school shooting were facing life-threatening injuries. The Record Searchlight reported that a 6-year-old victim with two gunshot wounds was transported to hospital by medical helicopter. Another child was shot in the right leg, the report noted.

None of the victims had been identified, but Brian Flint of nearby Corning told the Record Searchlight that his roommate was among those killed, and that a neighbor had been the shooter. Flint told the newspaper that the man identified as Kevin Janson Neal then stole Flint’s truck.

In the hours after the Rancho Tehama School shooting, many politicians issued statements of condolences for those killed, including California Gov. Jerry Brown.

“Anne and I are 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,” he wrote (via the Los Angeles Times).

There are some details coming out about Kevin Janson Neal. Jim Schultz reported that he was a frequent customer at the La Fortuna Market, and that a customer at the store was one of those killed.

Police records show that Rancho Tehama School shooting suspect Kevin Janson Neal had a history of alleged violence, including an arrest in February. As the Red Bluff Daily News noted, Neal was arrested on charges of assault with deadly weapon not firearm or force, battery on person, crime against elder or dependent adult, discharge firearm with gross negligence, and false imprisonment with violence. He was booked on $150,000 bail.

[Featured Image by kali9/iStock]

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