Gunman at Walmart distribution center in Northern California had warrant for 2018 gun charge

The gunman who fired into a Walmart distribution center, killing one person and wounding six others in Tehama County on Saturday had an outstanding warrant in Nevada as part of a 2018 firearms arrest, and he had twice been charged with battery in California.

Police killed Louis Wesley Lane, 31, of Redding after he rammed his SUV into the distribution center near Red Bluff and began opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle he had with him, investigators say. Lane had worked at the facility but he was fired last year after failing to show up for his shift, officials said.

It’s not clear where Lane acquired the gun used in the shooting and whether it was illegal under California’s strict assault rifle regulations. Investigators have said he had ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. So-called “high-capacity magazines” are illegal to buy in California.

The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office didn’t return messages this week.

In 2018, police in the city of Henderson, Nevada, arrested Lane and prosecutors charged him with a count of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of possessing a firearm under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Court records show that as part of a plea deal, the felony was reduced to a misdemeanor and his 120-day jail sentence was suspended as long as he stayed out of trouble for six months. He also agreed to forfeit his guns.

Last year, a judge in Clark County, Nevada, issued a bench warrant for his arrest after Lane failed to appear for a status check required under the deal. By that point, Lane had apparently moved back to California.

In February 2019, Walmart fired him for failing to show up to work, investigators say.

Aside from traffic tickets, California’s criminal court records show Lane also had two misdemeanor battery charges in Shasta County — one in 2007 and one in 2015. Both were dismissed.

The 2015 case also included a temporary restraining order to stay away from a Redding movie theater, according to the Record Searchlight in Redding. A Shasta County court spokeswoman said the records in the case had been destroyed.

A Facebook page that appears to belong to Lane hasn’t had a public post since 2018. The page includes numerous photos of firearms he said he purchased, including handguns and assault rifles.

Saturday’s mass shooting was the second in three years inside the rural county of 65,000 people, sprawling orchards and cattle ranches two hours north of Sacramento.

In November 2017, a gunman drove through the rural community of Rancho Tehama, shooting indiscriminately. In the rampage, Kevin Janson Neal killed five people and wounded dozens of others, including several students at an elementary school before he shot himself in the head after a gunfight with deputies.

Despite a restraining order requiring him to surrender his weapons, Neal routinely frightened his neighbors in remote Rancho Tehama Reserve by firing guns in the air. At least nine people brought Neal’s erratic behavior to the attention of the Sheriff’s Office with few tangible results, a 2019 Bee investigation found.

Surviving a gun battle

Employees working on Saturday described a frantic few minutes of broken glass, smoke and flying bullets.

Lane crashed his SUV into the lobby of the warehouse around 3:30 p.m., striking at least one person with his car which caught fire.

Investigators believe the only fatal victim of the attack, Martin Haro-Lozano, 45, had tried to help the shooter, not knowing Lane was there to shoot up the warehouse, Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told The Record Searchlight.

A GoFundMe page had raised more than $37,000 for Haro-Lozano’s family by Tuesday. On the page, family members said that Haro-Lozano, a father of two, was shot while waiting outside the center for his wife, Edelmira, who also works there. The family lives in nearby Orland.

Haro-Lozano’s family members declined an interview request this week.

Justin Donaldson said his younger brother Joseph Donaldson, 24, another Walmart employee, drove his Chevy Spark toward the shooter and drew his fire after Lane crashed his SUV and began shooting.

He said his brother put his car between Lane and Haro-Lozano, and he waved his hands and shouted at him, trying to draw his fire away from other employees.

After police arrived, Joseph Donaldson tried to staunch the bleeding and perform CPR on Haro-Lozano in the back of a sheriff’s vehicle on the way to the hospital, his brother said.

When they arrived, nurses noticed he was bleeding from a head wound from flying shrapnel.

“They told him, ‘Thank you. Now you need to come with us.’” Justin Donaldson said. “He said, ‘No, you need to go help him.’ ... They were like, ‘Dude, you got shot, too. You need to come with us.’ He was like, ‘Oh, I did?’ ”

After being released from the hospital, a family member posted a video on Facebook of Joseph Donaldson groggy from pain medication, his head wrapped in a blue bandage, and his left arm speckled with cuts.

“No offense; but I’m ready to go home,” he said.