Gunman who killed 1, injured 4 at Red Bluff distribution center was fired over a year ago

The man who rammed his SUV into the front of a Northern California distribution center Saturday before shooting at employees during a shift change had been fired there 16 months before, authorities said.

The shooter — identified as Louis Lane, 31, of Redding — had been let go from the Walmart distribution center in February 2019 after failing to show up for work, a Tehama County sheriff’s report Sunday said.

Lane’s rampage, which lasted less than 10 minutes, killed an 45-year-old employee and wounded four others before responding officers shot him in the parking lot. Lane later died at the hospital in surgery, officials said.

Investigators from multiple agencies were at the facility, about 130 miles north of Sacramento, continuing to sort out the chaotic aftermath of the attack Sunday, but the Sheriff’s Office issued preliminary findings that recounted chaotic chain of events carried out by the disgruntled worker, who used an “AR-type weapon.”

The warehouse, ringed with tractor-trailers and loading docks on the 10800 block of Highway 99 West, had about 200 workers inside at the time, some of whom were clocking in for the second shift.

Lane had been spotted driving around employee lot four times before he rammed his Dodge Journey into the “asset protection doors” at the front of the 1.1-million-square-foot facility at 3:31 p.m. Calls began pouring into 911 from the warehouse, which opened in 1994.

As he barreled toward the building, he struck at least one man who called dispatchers to say his leg had been run over by the SUV. The force of crash wedged the SUV into the lobby and immediately caught fire. Lane exited the vehicle and pulled out a “semiautomatic rifle with a multiround clip,” Tehama Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told reporters Saturday night. The high-capacity magazine used in the shooting is illegal in California.

From there, the gunman entered the building and began “shooting randomly” at employees, according to the deputies’ report. Workers scattered from the lobby area into the facility, locking themselves in rooms while others fled to the back of the warehouse as well as the parking lot.

A Red Bluff police officer was the first to arrive less about five minutes into the attack, the report said. The officer encountered the suspect, who by then was out in the shipping hub’s employee lot. Lane immediately fired rounds between cars at the officer, who returned fire.

A second Red Bluff officer arriving moments later also engaged the shooter — within two minutes, at 3:38 p.m., he fired the shot to the upper chest that subdued the suspect, the report said.

“The exchange of gunfire between the Red Bluff police officers and the shooter was multiple rounds,” Johnston said. Authorities were still trying to determine how many bullets were fired. “What I saw, (was) an estimated 20 to 30 rounds exchanged,” he added. Witnesses said more than 50 rounds were fired by the gunman inside the facility.

The fire was quickly put out, but authorities spent the next two hours in a “systematic search” for victims and possible accomplices, the report said.

“Based on the evidence at the scene, video surveillance and witness statements, investigators determined Lane acted alone,” according to the report.

The fatal victim was identified as Martin Haro-Lozano of Orland. Authorities do not know if he had a relationship with the gunman, but the report suggests Lane fired indiscriminately at workers in the brief time he was inside the building.

Scott Thammakhanty saw people lying on the ground as he and colleagues escaped the gunfire. He told the Record Searchlight of Redding that the gunfire “went on and on — I don’t even know how many times he fired. I just know it was a lot.”

The known four workers who were injured were receiving care at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital. They were in fair condition, spokeswoman Allison Hendrickson told The Sacramento Bee on Saturday. Witnesses told the Red Bluff Daily News one of the victims was a woman who was shot as she tried to flee the building.

Johnston told reporters that as many as six people were transported to the hospital, and that several people had sought treatment for the “traumatic” event.

The officers who fired on the suspect will be placed on paid administrative leave, standard protocol in officer-involved shootings, Red Bluff police said. The Tehama County District Attorney will review the officers’ role in the shooting while the Sheriff’s Office will lead the incident’s investigation.

In addition to Tehama deputies and Red Bluff officers, a state Department of Justice forensic team and an investigation team from the California Highway Patrol continued to process the scene.

A Walmart spokesman told national media outlets that “our focus is on supporting our associates, as well as their families and co-workers in the facility.” he told the New York Times.

Investigators said that the attack was not related to a shooting earlier in the day 30 miles to the northeast in Shingletown, where three people were killed.

This story was originally published June 27, 2020 at 5:34 PM.