What the Tehama County, California shooting reveals (or confirms) about small-town law enforcement, justice

The Los Angeles Times has provided impressive coverage of Tuesday's deadly shooting rampage in remote Rancho Tehama Reserve, California, population 1,485.   The shooter, Kevin Janson Neal, killed five and wounded eight others before Tehama County law enforcement killed him, about an hour after his rampage began.  The most recent LA Times story provides information about prior restraining orders against Neal (as well as one against a neighbor with whom he had an ongoing fued).  The piece, by Paige St. John, Joseph Serna, Hailey Branson-Potts and Ruben Vives, makes frequent references to the lack of anonymity that marks rural communities and to the role that this phenomenon played in Tuesday's shooting, as well as the events leading up to it.  Here's the story's lede: 

The screaming and gunfire coming from Kevin Neal’s blue mobile home last week was so disturbing that Jayne Barnes-Vinson called the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office to complain. 

“I heard a man and a woman screaming, like fighting, and the man was shooting off rounds like an automatic gun. So I was scared,” Barnes-Vinson said. 

Deputies arrived, she said, but told her they could not pinpoint the source of the gunfire. 

Neal’s penchant for firing off guns and threatening neighbors was well-known in this rural corner of Northern California even though he was barred from having any guns in his possession.

Because of the numerous restraining orders against him, Neal was required to surrender his firearms.  Records indicate that he had surrendered several guns.  The two handguns he possessed at the time of his rampage were registered to other owners, and the semi-automatic weapon he used was essentially "home-made."

Neal also faced a number felony charges in Tehama County, "including accusations of second-degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, negligent firing of a firearm, battery and false imprisonment by violence." Many of the charges stemmed from disputes with his neighbors, including a January 31 assault of a neighbor with a knife.

The LA Times story also provides a great deal of context regarding the challenges facing rural law enforcement officers in situations like this one, including those challenges associated with the remoteness of the place. Indeed, from the earliest accounts of this incident on Tuesday, radio and newspaper coverage mentioned that Rancho Tehama Reserve--apparently known locally as "the Reserve," was half an hour from the county seat, Red Bluff, which would necessarily impact law enforcement response time. Rancho Tehama Reserve is unincorporated and apparently has no more local law enforcement, relying instead on the County Sheriff's staff.

As for whether the Tehama County Sheriff's office should have acted preemptively in the face of numerous neighbors' complaints, the Times quotes Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney and former Los Angeles County sex crimes prosecutor:

I’m surprised there was not more action done. If the suspect is criminally charged in court, is accused of violence … there’s usually some action by the district attorney or law enforcement.

The Times also quotes Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who recognizes at least implicitly that rural law enforcement are short on resources: 

I’m not going to suggest they’re missing anything. Sometimes there’s a system that’s overwhelmed and they can’t do everything.  It’s just a lack of resources and it’s a matter of prioritization. 

The story closes with a quote from Jayne Barnes-Vinson, the neighbor who reported gunfire at the Neal home last week: 

That’s the thing about out there.  You could kill somebody out there, and nobody would know. It is a good community, don’t get me wrong, but it is remote.

Indeed, law enforcement revealed on Wednesday that Neal's killing spree began on Monday night when he killed his wife, Barbara Gilson, and hid her body beneath the floor of their trailer home.  The next morning, the initial targets of his shooting rampage were his neighbors, two of whom he murdered.  He also attacked the vehicle of a third neighbor, critically wounding the female driver who was taking her three young children to school.

Tehama County, population 63,463, is about two hours north of Sacramento. 

Postscript:  After I wrote this blog post, the Times posted this story by Joseph Serna revealing more information about the breakdown by which the local criminal justice system failed to act more definitely against Neal, even as he frequently fired his guns and threatened his neighbors.  The headline is "Rampage killer's repeated weapons violation were never reported to prosecutors, district attorney says."  Here's a salient quote:

Tehama County Dist. Atty. Gregg Cohen said Friday that had prosecutors known about the complaints, his office could have filed a motion to increase Neal’s $160,000 bond or filed misdemeanor charges for violating the court order that barred him from having weapons.

Serna quotes Cohen:

I wasn’t aware of the fact that he was continuing to shoot.  We would need some kind of report, some kind of proof that it was happening.  Just someone saying he didn’t turn in all his guns. ... That is the first time [I have heard about the neighbors' complaints].  I don’t want to throw the sheriff’s office under the bus.

As for the Tehama County sheriff's office, they seem to be saying that they did not report the weapons violation to the prosecutor because they could not substantiate it, even though they twice placed Neal's trailer under surveillance.