Photo: Leslie Paul Patterson
BURNEY – Just after midnight on December 22nd, a call came in to the Shasta County Sheriff about someone who had suffered a gunshot wound in the 38000 block of Lassen Street.
The victim was life-flighted to Redding and the investigation began. Apparently an unknown shooter fired into various windows of a random apartment. The tenant came out to see who was shooting and was promptly shot by the suspect.
Other occupants of the apartment were on the ground hiding from the shots.
As deputies were still on scene, someone told them that a man was in a blue car by the Burney Theater, armed with a rifle.
Deputies then stopped the car and detained its driver, 39-year-old McArthur resident Leslie Paul Patterson.
Patterson then “admitted to shooting at the inhabited dwelling, but could not provide a reason for the shooting, nor did he know who the occupants of the apartment were. At this time it appears the shooting was a random act.”
