Guns stolen from Shasta County Sheriff's Office facility tied to Reno murder

Guns stolen from a Shasta County sheriff's facility used for law enforcement training have been tied to the murder of a Redding man who was shot and killed earlier this week in Reno.

Shasta County Undersheriff Eric Magrini said Friday his office learned on Wednesday that guns, ammunition and other items found by Reno detectives investigating the shooting death of a 31-year-old Redding man were stolen from a Sheriff's Office facility in Redding.

Those weapons were not used in the fatal shooting, Magrini said, adding that whoever broke into the heavy steel storage facility gained entry using cutting and prying tools.

"They created an opening big enough to get in," he said.

While inside, he said, a safe storing older weapons used for officer training was opened with a prying tool.

"The safe's messed up pretty good,' he said, adding he believes the break-in and thefts happened more than a week ago. He declined to identify the location of the storage facility.

Magrini said items stored in the facility included old uniforms, shooting range targets and other equipment.

"There are a lot of things used for the range," he said.

More: Reno police arrest murder suspect, find stolen firearms

Among the items stolen were two disabled shotguns, including one without a barrel, a third shotgun, two training rifles and two training pistols, one of which is a cap gun that's used to simulate gunshots from behind the officers using the range.

Reno police officials, who could not be reached for comment Friday, have said in news releases that officers were called late Tuesday night to an East Grove Street residence in Reno after receiving reports of a shooting.

They found 31-year-old Patrick James McDaniel with multiple gunshot wounds.

He was taken to a Reno hospital, where he was declared dead.

The Reno Gazette-Journal, citing police reports, said Friday Mike Kizer, 34, was arrested on suspicion of murder in McDaniel's death.

Police said Kizer was arrested after police recovered a number of firearms, as well as ammunition, explosives and other items stolen from an unidentified sheriff's facility, the newspaper reported.

Magrini said the explosives, as well as another gun, were not from the Shasta County sheriff's storage facility.

All of the items were found in a Sutro Avenue apartment in Reno, police said.

Police said they believed McDaniel was initially in possession of the stolen goods, the newspaper reported.

Police said McDaniel and a friend, who was not identified, transported the stolen goods to East Grove Street in Reno as part of a sale of those items, the newspaper reported.

While in the parking lot, Kizer, a participant in the sale, produced a firearm and shot McDaniel multiple times, according to police reports.

Kizer left the scene in McDaniel’s Honda Accord, which contained the stolen merchandise, police said. The car was found abandoned the following morning.

On Thursday, police said, they found Kizer at a business in the 200 block of N. McCarran Blvd. in Sparks and took him into custody. Detectives subsequently obtained a search warrant for the apartment.

A Reno Police Department SWAT team with the assistance of detectives, police negotiators, and a bomb squad conducted a search early morning Friday and discovered stolen goods.

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Reno Police Department or Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.