By Robin Epley
Chico Enterprise-Record
BERRY CREEK, Calif. — Two Berry Creek residents were taken to Enloe Medical Center in Chico late Sunday afternoon after they both suffered gunshot wounds to the head.
The suspect in the shootings is a recently evicted tenant of their home on the 1200 block of Encina Grande Road, 53-year-old Mike Bills.
He reportedly fled the scene in the victims’ 1991 white Toyota Camry and is still at large. According to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred over a fight about the possession of several thousand dollars’ worth of marijuana plants.
Allen Campbell, 46, and Sandra Campbell, 53, were reportedly shot twice with a .22-caliber gun, and are still alive. Sandra Campbell was shot through the neck and is in stable condition. Allen Campbell suffered injuries to his ear; his condition was unknown Sunday night. Two witnesses received minor injuries while fleeing the gunman.
Medics at the scene would not come up the rocky road, so the Campbells were transported several miles by police car to where Encina Grande Road meets the Oro-Quincy Highway. From there, Allen Campbell was transported by ground ambulance to Enloe and Sandra Campbell was transported by helicopter.
Witness Sabrina Pennington, 20, told her mother that Bills was hired to be Sandra’s caretaker, as she is in declining health, and he was apparently fired on Saturday for a poor working relationship with Sandra Campbell.
Pennington said she and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Wray, 20, were out back in their tent when they heard two or three gunshots come from inside the house. She said Sandra Campbell came running out of the house, clutching her neck and head and screaming for them to run.
Wray and Pennington, who were working for the Campbells and other neighbors with various house duties, ran from the property to a neighbor’s house until police arrived. Sandra Campbell ran down her property to call 9-1-1 from a neighbor’s house.
When police arrived at the scene, gunshots in the surrounding neighborhood were being heard on a frequent basis, prompting speculation that Bills was still in the area. However, it was confirmed that he was no longer on the mountain, having fled the area, and that the shots were coming from a neighbor’s property.
Bills is described as a white male, with a bald head and beard. His height is approximately 5'10 and he weighs about 190 pounds. He was last seen without a shirt and with tan pants on driving the Camry toward the Oro-Quincy Highway. Anyone with information about his location should call 9-1-1 or the Butte County Sheriff’s Office at 891-2711.
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