A gunman’s attack on an elementary school during a deadly rampage in Northern California this week was not a random act as authorities initially thought, prosecutors said Friday.

Kevin Janson Neal, 44, smashed a stolen Ford F-150 through the front gates of Rancho Tehama Elementary School on Tuesday morning, drove into the center of the quad, got out and shot into classrooms as he tried to get into the buildings, authorities said.

The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office initially said Neal’s actions were “random,” but Dist. Atty. Gregg Cohen said that does not appear to be the case. Neal had an ongoing feud with his neighbors and had threatened them and a young relative who was a student at the school in the months leading up to Tuesday’s shooting, he said.

“Mr. Cohen stated that his opinion/belief was that Neal didn’t pick the school randomly based on his belief that Neal knew that one of his neighbor victim’s grandsons attended the elementary school and also some hearsay that Neal was upset at someone who worked at the school,” Cohen’s office said in an email.


Neal’s attack on the school failed because a vigilant employee had quickly placed the campus on lockdown after hearing Neal’s gunshots down the street.

Neal’s visit to the school was near the conclusion of a crosstown massacre that started the night before when he killed his wife and hid her body under the floor. On Tuesday morning, Neal fatally shot three of his neighbors before heading to the elementary school.

Neal killed one more person after he left the school and was then fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies.

The boy Neal was possibly targeting was uninjured, but his father and grandmother were killed.


joseph.serna@latimes.com

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