Body of California shooter’s wife found under floor. He was ‘a madman on the loose,’ sheriff says

The deadly rampage in Tehama County apparently began Monday night with Kevin Janson Neal shooting his wife to death with multiple rounds, then hiding her body under the floor of their rural home, authorities said Wednesday.

Then, armed with two semiautomatic rifles he had made himself illegally, Neal set out early Tuesday on a shooting spree that left a total of six people dead – including Neal – and eight people injured, seven of them children, Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a news conference.

Calling Neal “a madman on the loose,” Johnston said the gunman drove the streets of Rancho Tehama firing randomly at homes and structures. Johnston asked residents to check on their neighbors to ensure that they all are safe after the violent outbreak.

“I don’t know what his motive was,” Johnston said. “I think he had a desire to kill as many people as he could and whether or not he had a desire to die at the hands of police I don’t know.”

Johnston said there was a history of domestic violence calls to the Neal home, as well as calls for deputies to respond to shots being fired at the home, but he said Neal was “not law enforcement friendly” and would not come to the door when deputies knocked. At least twice, he said, deputies placed the home under surveillance in hopes that he would emerge, but he never did.

Authorities believe Neal killed his wife Monday night by shooting her to death, then hid the body under the floor and covered it up. Neal called his mother that night in North Carolina, telling her “it’s all over now,” the Associated Press reported, and began his rampage early the next day.

Neal’s uncle, Ed, told The Sacramento Bee that he hadn’t heard of any domestic problems between Neal and his wife. The fact that he killed his wife suggests that his nephew’s mind snapped.

“If he did that Monday, he was just completely gone,” said the uncle, who requested that his last name not be used. “He just lost his mind. He thought the world of her.” He said he had lost contact with his nephew over the years and couldn’t recall the name of Neal’s wife.

Johnston said the first call for help came into the sheriff’s dispatch center at 7:54 a.m. and that by 8:19 a.m. law enforcement officers had engaged Neal and killed him.

“Everything took place between these times,” he said. “It’s not very long (but) when you’re out in the field and this is going on this seems like forever.”

Neal was driving and firing randomly as he approached Rancho Tehama Elementary School. The gunshots gave school officials a warning to lock down the school before he arrived.

“It’s monumental that the school went on lockdown,” Johnston said. “I really, truly believe that we would have had a horrific bloodbath at that school.

“I can’t say how important that is.”

Neal apparently became frustrated at his inability to get into the school, and left after a time, Johnston said.

Johnston said authorities found three victims at two separate scenes on Bobcat Lane, one apparently Neal’s wife, and a second a woman who was the victim of an assault by Neal that landed him in jail in January on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Tehama County Superior Court records show he was charged with assault, false imprisonment, battery and other charges in late January in connection with an attack on two women, and he later was released on $160,000 bail.

Another victim, a woman, was found along a roadway at a separate crime scene, and the fifth shooting victim was the father of a student at the school.

Neal had been released on $160,000 bail after the January arrest. Johnston said Tuesday night that a restraining order would have required him to turn in any weapons.

Johnston said Wednesday that he did not yet know whether any firearms were turned in, but said the weapons Neal used Tuesday were made illegally at his home and unregistered. Neal used multi-round clips for the semiautomatic rifles, Johnston said, and also was armed with two handguns that were not registered to him.

“A number of magazine firearm clips were found (at the school) so I believe during his assault of the school he lost some of his ammunition,” Johnston said. “I think he became frustrated, ‘I’m here too long.’

“There’s no doubt that he didn’t want to give up. So he elected to find other targets.”

Neal’s shooting spree included firing at homes and passing vehicles. The sheriff said he fired eight rounds into the door of a pickup truck driven by a woman who had a concealed weapons permit and attempted to return fire but could not before Neal fled.

Neal was remembered by his family Wednesday as a decent but troubled man who somehow went astray.

“We’re feeling horrible for those people out there,” said his uncle Ed. “We’re not this kind of people.”

Speaking from the family’s home in Raleigh, N.C., the uncle said the family hadn’t received official word from the Tehama County authorities until Wednesday morning, when a sheriff’s deputy called.

The uncle said Neal, who was raised in North Carolina, was intelligent but struggled all his life with dyslexia. He attended East Carolina University for a while, studying music. He moved to California around a decade ago to work as an airplane mechanic, but the job opportunity apparently didn’t pan out and Neal was drifting through various odd jobs, including fixing up old cars and selling them.

“Delivering pizzas, whatever,” his uncle said.

His uncle said his mother was in near-daily communication with her son, but other family members lost contact over the years.

“He grew up and went his way; he was out there in the middle of nowhere basically,” the uncle said. “He seemed to do his best when he didn’t have a lot of people bugging him.” He said he believes his nephew had gotten married after moving to California.

His mother, who was identified only as Anne, told the Associated Press that her son was at the end of his rope because of a feud with his neighbors, whom he suspected of making methamphetamine.

“Mom it’s all over now,” he told her in a phone call Monday, according to AP. “I have done everything I could do and I am fighting against everyone who lives in this area.”

Neal’s sister, told AP that her brother had struggled with mental illness and had a violent temper.

The Tehama Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday that the first two people killed in the spree were the gunman’s neighbors, including a woman he had been charged with assaulting in late January. The suspect took off in a stolen truck, firing randomly on the streets and roads of rural Tehama Rancho Reserve, before crashing through the gates of the elementary school and shooting through windows and walls.

Neighbors said they had complained to the Sheriff’s Department that Neal was firing off rounds of ammunition in his neighborhood.

“My understanding is they took all his weapons (after the January arrest),” his uncle said. “Where in the name of Christ did he get all of that stuff?”

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Body of California shooter’s wife found under floor. He was ‘a madman on the loose,’ sheriff says."