Mountain Gate pot grower on 'bad trip' shoots to scare off nonexistent ... - Record-Searchlight
MOUNTAIN GATE -- A Mountain Gate man going through a "bad trip" on methamphetamine imagined someone was sneaking onto his marijuana grow, so he started shooting early this morning in the same home where his two young children were, sheriff's investigators allege.
Brian Anthony Walker, 33, didn't hurt anyone when he began firing about 5:25 a.m., though his family and the two men who were camped outside guarding the grow were extremely fortunate they weren't shot, Shasta County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Grashoff said.
The shooting, which led to a standoff with the Shasta County Sheriff's SWAT Team that eventually arrested Walker after storming the home on Wonderland Boulevard, is the third time in just a few weeks that Shasta County sheriff's deputies have investigated reports of violence related to medical-marijuana grows.
Walker told investigators after he was arrested that he imagined men were coming to his home to steal his pot, Grashoff said.
"He was shooting to scare them off," Grashoff said. "No one was trying to break in."
Walker was arrested on suspicion on child endangerment for putting the lives of his 3-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter at risk, Grashoff said.
He also face charges of discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner and for possessing methamphetamine, Grashoff said.
Grashoff declined to describe the type of gun Walker used.
Evidence technicians were still at the home this afternoon. Outside was a fenced-off marijuana garden with bushy green plants sticking up below a canopy. At least one of the home's windows was broken out, which a neighbor said was due to deputies firing a tear gas canister inside.
None of those at the home wanted to comment.
Tom Spangler, who owns Tom Cat Pin-striping Studio next to Walker's home, said he awoke on his 44th birthday this morning to the sounds of sirens and dogs barking. He said he didn't hear any gunshots, though.
"I think it's ridiculous," Spangler said of his neighbor's pot garden. "I'm trying to run a business here. It's hard to attract any customers with a pot farm next door."
Grashoff said this time of year is extremely dangerous, as growers' crops are nearing harvest. Many are willing to resort to violence to protect the valuable buds growing on their plants, Grashoff said.
Grashoff urged people, even in residential areas, to be extremely wary of approaching any home where marijuana is being grown.
In late August, Terence Ross Seed, 46, shot and wounded Todd Finch, 25, in a dispute over a pot grow in the Montgomery Creek area, Shasta County sheriff's deputies say. Seed has pleaded not guilty.
On Aug. 29,, three men in tactical-style clothing and black face masks carrying a firearm stormed Michael Wayne High's Mason Drive home shortly before midnight to try to steal High's pot, according to sheriff's detectives.
High was stabbed when he fought back, though he survived, detectives say.
Michael Derek Johnson, 31, of Red Bluff; Lucas Eugene Simpson, 31, of Red Bluff; and Michael Casey Houchins, 27, of Cottonwood all have pleaded not guilty. Houchins already was in the home before three men entered the house, deputies have said.
Sheriff's deputies continue to search for a fourth suspect, Chane Christian Finch, 37, of Redding, who they consider to be armed and dangerous.
Redding police also seek suspects who robbed the California Patients Collective at 2728 Churn Creek Road around 9 p.m. on Sept. 8.
Then, on Thursday, two men armed with a handgun, robbed Trusted Friends marijuana collective on Pine Street 6:45 p.m.
One suspect has been identified by officers as Joshua Don Wright, 19, of Redding. They're also seeking his alleged accomplice.
Both men may be tied to the other collective robbery and other pot-related thefts around town, police say.
19 Sep, 2011--
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