He had a cache of guns, 4,000 rounds of ammo, and a pipe bomb strapped to his right leg – prepared to rain war, authorities said, on the Siskiyou County town of Yreka.
Michael Solano drove to Yreka on Tuesday, apparently harboring a grudge.
It's uncertain what the 54-year-old Sacramento man had planned to do with all those guns – two assault rifles, a stolen pistol and three other weapons – and all those homemade bombs, at least 15 of them loaded into his black, four-door Pontiac.
In the end, he said, he was supposed to die.
After tangling violently with officers Tuesday afternoon, Solano pleaded with police to shoot him. He'd be better off dead, he told a detective.
"He told me it wasn't supposed to end the way it did. He told me he was sorry, that he loved me. He just wanted to die," said Solano's wife, Candy, recounting his phone call from jail a day after her estranged husband scuffled with police.
She last saw him Monday when he dropped off car keys for his daughter. He had moved out of his Florin home months ago and had been living in his truck. "He just seemed totally out of it," Candy Solano said. He left a note that in hindsight read like a will.
"This guy was ready for war," said Yreka Police Chief Brian Bowles. "We were lucky this guy was stopped and nobody was killed."
Solano was being held in Siskiyou County jail in lieu of $2 million bail, arraigned Thursday on a litany of charges, including possession of a destructive device, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer with a firearm and attempting to take an officer's firearm.
He pleaded not guilty, authorities said.
The police chief called the incident a tragedy averted.
By most accounts, Solano was filled with rage at the Siskiyou County Probation Department. He was first spotted in a car parked near the agency. "In his mind, they ruined his life," said his wife.
Earlier Tuesday, Solano was scheduled to appear before a Siskiyou County judge for a probation hearing, but he never showed. He had been out on bail after violating probation stemming from an arrest three years ago in Siskiyou County – in a stretch of Interstate 5 in Yreka – when he fell asleep behind the wheel of his tractor-trailer.
Witnesses told the California Highway Patrol he was driving erratically. Authorities found his truck pulled over, partially blocking a northbound lane, with the engine running and with Solano slumped over, asleep.
Court records say he was convicted of driving under the influence of drugs – ostensibly the painkillers Solano's wife said he used to relieve sometimes debilitating aches in his back, neck and arms.
Court records also show he was carrying a loaded firearm, a small bag of marijuana and illegal fireworks.
On July 21, the Probation Department petitioned the court to revoke Solano's probation after he failed a urine test for drugs – possibly for the same painkillers that turned him into a felon.
That's when his troubles must have deepened, said his wife. "He must have snapped," she said.
When he didn't show for his court hearing, Brett Duncan, the bail bondsman who posted $30,000 on Solano's behalf, went looking.
"It was dumb luck," he said, that he ran across Solano near the probation office.
"He was sitting there with a blank stare," Duncan said.
Solano spotted him, then drove away. Duncan alerted police. Two Yreka police units were soon on Solano's tail.
Duncan said Solano pulled to the curb. Two officers approached. They asked him out of his black four-door Pontiac. Solano complied.
One officer began a pat-down, but Solano pulled away. Police said his right hand reached into his right boot, from which he pulled out a stainless steel Beretta.
That's when Duncan ran to the scene and tried to wrest control of the gun.
"I could feel him squeeze the trigger," he said. "My goal was to keep the gun from going off."
The men struggled – Duncan, two officers and Solano – in broad daylight not far from Main Street. Solano put up a fierce battle.
Police said they heard Solano plead for them to kill him.
"Anybody who straps a bomb to himself and pulls a gun in the presence of a police officer, probably wants to die," Duncan said. "I don't think it leaves anything to the imagination."
Call The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan, (916) 321-1067.
