Surveillance video shows man in deadly California shooting rampage
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — Gas station surveillance video shows an armed man who police believe killed two and injured three, including a California Highway Patrol officer, in a shooting spree Monday, reports CBS Sacramento.
Authorities say 61-year-old Alan Ashmore opened fire at homes, a car, two gas stations and a winery in this small lakeside Northern California town before being arrested.
The attacks began shortly before 11:30 a.m. and stretched over several miles as Ashmore drove from place to place and then tried to flee sheriff's deputies, authorities said.
The gunman first fired at several homes and a car, killing a man in a house and another in the car. Officials say he then wounded a woman in the foot and shot an arriving California Highway Patrol officer. The officer's body armor protected him and he wasn't badly injured, Martin said.
Ashmore then went to a Chevron station, where he shot at but missed a vendor who was leaving the station's convenience store, according to the county sheriff's office.
The surveillance video obtained by CBS Sacramento shows the suspect walking through the convenience store with a rifle before firing at a vendor and missing. The vendor, who had a license to carry a concealed weapon, grabbed a gun from his truck and fired at Ashmore, hitting his sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Pat Kelly, 52, of Clearlake Oaks said he was at the Chevron station when he saw a sport utility vehicle screech to a halt and a gunman jumped out and went to the store.
"Oh, there was eight to 10 or a dozen gunshots in rapid succession," Kelly told the San Francisco Chronicle. "There was another guy parked behind me. He was hiding behind his gas pump, and I was hiding behind my gas pump."
Kelly said he got back into his car, sped away and went to another gas station about a mile away, only to find the shooter had gone there, too.
"He was parked right there," Kelly said.
Ashmore stole cigarettes and demanded a lighter from the clerk at gunpoint before driving away, according to the sheriff's office.
Authorities say Ashmore also shot at workers at a winery and then led sheriff's deputies on a chase before he finally surrendered at a roadblock. Several guns were found in his vehicle.
Ashmore was known around town, Martin said.
"He spent some time in prison. He's got several arrests locally," the sheriff told CBS Sacramento.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson told the station, "I think he was almost targeting everybody, everybody he had a grudge with and also random citizens."