Couple arrested after shotgun blasts rattle Redding neighborhood

April 21, 2020 Trevor Montgomery

REDDING — A couple was arrested after shots were fired through the door of an apartment early Tuesday morning, April 21. The shooting happened at a complex on the 2700 block of Lanning Ave., according to officers, who took three children into protective custody after the violent incident.

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Redding Police Officers were dispatched to the scene just after midnight, after receiving reports of shots fired at the location, Redding Police Sgt. Todd Cogle reported after the incident and arrests. 911 callers told SHASCOM emergency dispatchers that a man from one of the apartments had fired multiple shots through the front door of his apartment.

The caller also provided updates while officers were headed to the scene indicating the man was loading children into a white sedan and preparing to leave.

Officers arrested 30-year-old, Nicholas Hall and 28-year-old, Victoria Mullersistrunk, after Hall fired a shotgun inside a Redding apartment, which was found in “deplorable condition”. The couple’s three children were taken into protective custody and later turned over to CFS. RPD photos

As Officers arrived in the area they spotted a white sedan parked in the middle of Lanning Ave. and saw a man, later identified as 30-year-old, Redding resident, Nicholas Dillon Hall, standing near the vehicle with his hands raised in the air, according to Cogle.

While officers were attempting to detain Hall, a woman began interfering with officers and attempting to remove evidence and other items from the vehicle.

She was later identified as Hall’s wife, 28-year-old, Victoria Marie Mullersistrunk.

After detaining both subjects, officers investigated the reported shooting and learned Hall was inside his apartment when he fired four rounds from an illegal, sawed-off shotgun through the front door of the residence.

Although Hall told officers he discharged the weapon after seeing someone outside his residence, witness statements contradicted him, indicating no one was outside the apartment at the time of the shooting.

During their subsequent investigation, officers located four expended shotgun shells on the floor of the apartment and found multiple loaded firearms inside the residence that were “scattered around, unsecured, and within easy reach of the children,” according to Cogle.

Officers also found three young children inside the apartment.

The oldest of the children, an 8-year-old boy, recounted to officers witnessing the shooting and seeing his father fire the shotgun through the front door of the residence.

As officers continued searching the apartment, which they said was found to be in “deplorable condition”, they also located a plastic bag of suspected methamphetamine.

Some of the bag’s illicit contents had spilled out onto the floor, and the suspected drugs were within easy reach of the children, explained Cogle.

Based on their investigation, officers arrested both Hall and Mullersistrunk and transported the pair to Shasta County Jail in Redding.

Hall was booked into jail on suspicion of cruelty to a child, negligent discharge of a firearm, possession of an illegally sawed-off shotgun, and carrying a loaded firearm in public, according to Cogle; who said Mullersistrunk was booked on suspicion of resisting or delaying a peace officer and cruelty to a child.

Nobody was injured during the shooting and the three children were later turned over to Children and Family Services.

Anyone with further information regarding this investigation and arrest are encouraged to contact Redding Police Department at (530) 355-4169. Callers can refer to incident file number 20R025655 and can remain anonymous.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 48, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 29 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 16 grandchildren.