Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli
A California Highway Patrol vehicle lives the Rancho Tehama Elementary school, one of the locations attacked by a lone gunman Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017, near Corning, Calif.
- Police have identified the gunman who killed five other people in a shooting rampage in northern California as 44-year-old Kevin Janson Neal.
- Late on Tuesday, authorities found the body of Neal's wife concealed under the floorboards of her home.
- Police say Neal picked his targets randomly, driving around the community and shooting at people from his car before landing at the Rancho Tehama Elementary School.
The gunman who opened fire on a northern California elementary school on Tuesday also killed his wife and hid her body underneath the floorboards of their home, authorities said.
Kevin Janson Neal, 44, likely began his shooting spree after he fatally shot his spouse, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a press conference Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We were looking for his wife and couldn't find her yesterday," Johnston told reporters. "We located her dead body concealed under the floor of the resident last night. … We believe that's what probably started this whole event."
Neal's rampage killed five people, including his wife, at multiple locations across the Rancho Tehama reserve, and injured 10 people, including several children.
Authorities and witnesses said he appeared to pick targets randomly, driving around the community and shooting at people from his car before landing at the Rancho Tehama Elementary School, which immediately began its lockdown procedures and prevented him from entering the building.
Authorities credited the school's swift lockdown for the lack of child fatalities.
"This incident, as tragic and as bad as it is, could have been so much worse if it wasn't for the quick thinking and staff at our elementary school," Johnston said during a press conference on Tuesday. "The quick action of those school officials - there is no doubt in my mind based on the video that I saw - saved countless lives and children."
Neal was killed in a shootout with sheriff's deputies roughly 45 minutes after the shooting began.