Trio arrested in burglary try as victim fires gun toward suspects

Mike Chapman | Redding

A Shasta County man said he fired a gun twice in self-defense during a burglary attempt at his Happy Valley area home Friday morning.

No one was injured in the shootings but deputies later arrested two men and a woman on suspicion of attempted burglary among many other charges.

One of the suspects was caught when he tried to report a truck used in the crimes had been stolen, but deputies didn't buy his story and arrested him instead.

The two men were held for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon with one arrested on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer by steering a pickup toward a deputy's vehicle.

The string of crimes started just after 5 a.m. Friday when a resident in the 15000 block of Cloverdale Road reported a burglary was in progress. It was the second burglary report at the home this week.

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Deputies said they heard several shots coming from the residence and when they got closer, a dark-colored Ford truck sped away, almost hitting a deputy's vehicle.

The victim, who's not being identified by the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, said he woke up to the sounds of two men and a woman trying to break into his home.

One of the men, identified as Troy Haller, 51, of Millville, got into the truck and drove it toward the resident, deputies said. The resident, fearing for this safety, shot at the truck, officers said.

The resident said after that, another man who started running away pointed a gun at him. Deputies said the victim fired at the man in self-defense.

Meanwhile, Haller, apparently driving the Ford truck, made it to Highway 273 before going east on Ox Yoke Road and onto Dersch Road. The truck turned onto Millville Plains Road and drove through a resident's fence on Bass Pond Road before Haller ran from the vehicle, deputies said.

K-9s from the Redding Police Department and sheriff's office were unable to find Haller after a California Highway Patrol officer saw the suspect running southwest from Mallard Way.

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Officers who searched the truck said they found evidence linking Kayla Lane, 33, of Millville and Haller to the attempted burglary.

Deputies found the other male suspect, 44-year-old Rodrigo Gonzalez-Garcia of Anderson, when a resident on Small Farms Lane said she saw him uninvited at her home. Lane was found walking in the roadway at Cloverdale and Cloverview roads.

Officers said they never did find a firearm that may have been used by Gonzalez-Garcia.

Later on Friday, Haller called deputies to say his mother's Ford truck had been stolen. Deputies went to Haller's home where he admitted to participating in the attempted burglary and leading officers on the chase, the sheriff's office said.

Haller was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, assault with a deadly weapon, evading a police officer with disregard for public safety, conspiracy to commit a crime, vehicle theft, attempted burglary and trespassing.

Lane was booked for attempted burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime, vehicle theft, probation violation and trespassing.

Gonzalez-Garcia was booked for attempted burglary, vehicle theft, assault with a deadly weapon firearm, conspiracy to commit a crime and trespassing.

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