CA Shooter Kevin Neal was out on bail for stabbing neighbor at the time of mass shooting

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Sometimes our justice system seems to fail us miserably.  As we are discovering more information about mass shooter Kevin Neal, it has been reported that at the time of the shooting he was out on $160,000 bail for allegedly stabbing a neighbor.  Think this is part of that "neighborhood feud" we've been hearing about?  Even more outrageous is that Neal was supposed to be prohibited from owning guns.  Not that any court ruling or piece of paper is going to stop someone determined to get their hands on a gun or guns.

Earlier this year Neal was ordered to give up his weapons as part of a protective order filed on behalf of two female neighbors he had confrontations with in January.  District Attorney Gregg Cohen was prosecuting him on several charges related to the January incident.  This was a violent confrontation with Neal allegedly shooting at the female neighbors and stabbing one of thembefore holding them hostage!  I'm at a loss at how the bail amount was set at $160,000.  Seems it should have been made sufficient to see he remained in jail until trial.  But it wasn't - and he didn't.  Instead, he exacted revenge on the people he felt slighted by.  I suppose it depends on what exactly he was charged with, but even aggravated assault and kidnapping should have had a much higher bail amount.  The judge had to know Mr. Neal lived near his victims - and any no contact order wasn't going to have any effect on his desire for retribution towards those women.

I'm not sure of the police procedure for a defendant to "surrender" their firearms - what happened with Neal's guns? It's entirely possible he did surrender them because the guns found after he was killed were not registered to him.  According to law enforcement officials the weapons had been modified.  This is another huge problem the gun manufacturers must take seriously.  They should put more research and development dollars into making sure their guns are not easily modified.  I don't know a lot about guns, but there are a lot of brilliant people out there who I'm certain could at least make it more challenging to modify.

There are so many troubling things about this story.  It seems the justice system in our country generally works, but not for the wild card madman who is hell bent on taking people down.  The only real way for this to have been prevented would have been to make his bail high enough to where he would have remained there until trial.  Letting him out was a mistake, even though he was entitled to some type of bail. Let's face it, the bail amount seems to be the biggest blunder here.  Had it been a higher amount, cash only type of thing maybe those people would still be alive today.  That may not be fair of me to say, but it's what I'm thinking.

Newsweek called Neal "another angry white man with a record of violence against women".  That sums it up.  Newsweek is also reporting that in addition to the January incident with the two neighbors, Neal was arrested in February for assault with a deadly weapon, battery, crimes against the elderly or dependent adult and for "discharging his firearm with gross negligence".  Wait, wasn't he supposed to have surrendered his firearms under the January protective order?  That second "incident" should have been grounds to revoke his bail shouldn't it have? 

How many times have you heard about a woman who was killed after getting a protective order?  It's well known that it's the most dangerous time for the victim once the order has been granted.  For some people, that just lights their fuse.  Seems Neal's fuse was lit and finally blew.

Kevin Neal

Details From Rancho Tehama Shootings Come into Focus

We are finally learning details surrounding the seemingly random acts of violence that occurred in the small town of Rancho Tehama yesterday.  Naturally immediately after the incident(s), information was sketchy at best as police tried putting the pieces of complex crime scenes together.  All we really knew was that several people were killed and children at an elementary school were targeted - perhaps simply because he was driving by.  Yesterday, law enforcement officials stated that the believed this may have began with a "domestic dispute".  A neighbor of the man believed to be the gunman spoke to media yesterday and said there was an ongoing "neighborhood dispute" between he and the neighbor he identified only as "Kevin".  It was impossible to believe all this violence was the result of a neighborhood dispute but not much else had been reported.

Kevin Neal

What we now know is the shooter was 44 year old Kevin Janson Neal of Bobcat Lane.  We know many of the 911 calls were initiated from that area.  Neal killed 4 adults before opening fire at random on children at Corning Union Elementary School.  Thankfully none of the children or teachers were killed, however several children were injured badly enough to require air lifts out of the area. 

It appears Neal's initial target was indeed his wife who has not been publicly named by officials (to my knowledge).  The Sheriff's Department attempted to locate Neal's wife - even going as far to "ping" her cellphone.  Unfortunately everyones worse fears were realized when they searched the Neals' residence and found his wife deceased in the home. It appears Neal killed her the night before and cut a hole out of their floor in some crude attempt to hide the body.

We know early Tuesday morning he got into his car and went on a shooting spree.  Among the 4 other adults shot & killed, one of the deceased was a female neighbor he had been accused of attacking during an "ongoing dispute". It sounds like Mr. Neal had disputes with more than one neighbor.  Shortly after Tuesdays incident began, Neal shot and killed two more neighbors and stole a pickup truck and drove through the small town and fired at will.

We know Neal was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and pistol from the reports yesterday.  While driving through town, he ended up behind a Ford 250 pickup truck driven by a mother and her son.  He fired 8 rounds into the truck, seriously injuring both mother and son.  The woman was on her way to drop her son off to school.  She had a concealed weapon permit, but never had time to draw the weapon to defend herself and her son.  

Thankfully this was a small town, because by the time Neal arrived at the school in the stolen pickup the school was already on "lockdown".  That didn't deter Neal - he rammed the truck through the gates and began firing into the school.  As far as I know one child was shot in the foot and chest but is expected to recover.  If the school hadn't been heard about what was happening and wasn't  prepared or it could have been a lot worse.

After busting through the gates of the school, Neal reportedly calmly stepped out of the truck and began randomly shooting.  It doesn't appear he had any particular target(s) in mind - just your basic act of domestic terror.  After his attempt to kill innocent elementary school kids failed, Neal sought other targets and he found them.

Neal began following a couple driving down the street and deliberately hit them. As the couple exited the vehicle, he shot both of them.  The woman died but the man survived the shooting.  A good Samaritan who witnessed the accident and shooting pulled over to help; Neal took aim at him as well and shot at him however he was able to escape on foot before Neal stole his car.

Neal's crime spree wasn't over yet - he was in the process of pursuing his next target and attempted to ram that car and shoot into it when law enforcement finally caught up with him.  A gunfight ensued and finally it was over. Neal was shot dead by a sheriff's deputy.  What a story.  The thing that stands out to me out of all I just wrote is that we still don't know what the original dispute with his wife was that set this into motion.  His wife was believed to be his first victim so she can't contribute to the motive - however hopefully she told somebody in her life what was happening at home.  

Solely based on what has been reported, it seems that Neal was a hot headed time bomb ready to explode.  He had troubles with his wife, he was feuding with his neighbors. I'm willing to bet there's an employer out there who is breathing a sigh of relief that they weren't on his hit list.  Or perhaps he was a normal man who just lost it?