UPDATE: Carjacked after Red Bluff hospital shooting, victim leaps from moving vehicle to escape attacker
UPDATED: Saturday, Nov. 20, 10:30 a.m., With additional details from Red Bluff PD.
Originally Published: Friday, Nov. 19, 3:53 p.m.
RED BLUFF, Calif., — Authorities have released additional details regarding a violent incident that began as an attempted carjacking and shooting at a Red Bluff hospital Friday morning, Nov. 19. After the initial reports of shots fired at the hospital the suspect fled on foot to nearby Highway 99W where he carjacked a vehicle, taking the driver hostage, before leading multiple law enforcement agencies on a high-speed pursuit – all while continuing to shoot at pursuing officers.
No officers or citizens were injured as a result of the gunfire and the suspect, Karl Van Hoomissen, 22, of Oregon, was taken into custody after the victim of the carjacking managed to leap from the still-moving vehicle to escape the armed man.
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City of Red Bluff police officers and other local law enforcement agencies responded to the Saint Elizabeth Hospital, located at 2550 Sister Mary Columba Drive, around 8:20 a.m. after receiving multiple reports of a man with a gun in the hospital’s parking lot, Red Bluff Police Sergeant Murgia has since reported.
As officials were headed to the scene, the city’s Communication’s Center began to receive multiple additional reports that the man, since identified as Van Hoomissen, was trying to carjack vehicles and had fired the handgun.
Karl Van Hoomissen, 22, of Oregon, was arrested after a shooting, carjacking, and vehicle pursuit; during which he repeatedly fired upon pursuing officers. Tehama County booking photo above, KRCR News7 main image
Arriving in the area within minutes, officers spotted Van Hoomissen as he fled from the area toward nearby Highway 99W, where he managed to stop a passing car and carjacked the vehicle.
After jumping into the passenger seat and taking the driver hostage, Van Hoomissen forced the terrified victim to head southbound on the highway with Red Bluff PD officers, Tehama County sheriff’s deputies, and California Highway Patrol officers in hot pursuit.
During the ensuing chase, Van Hoomissen fired his weapon from the carjacked vehicle multiple times at the pursuing officials, before officers were able to get ahead of the pursuit and lay out spike strips.
The spike strips were successful in flattening the vehicle’s tires, according to Murgia; who said, “As the vehicle was traveling at a slower speed, the victim of the carjacking was able to jump from the moving vehicle and escape (Van Hoomissen).”
With nobody behind the driver’s wheel, the carjacked vehicle rolled to a stop where officers took Van Hoomissen into custody without further incident.
Injured as a result of leaping from the moving vehicle, the carjacking victim was transported back to St. Elizabeth Hospital where they were treated for their unspecified injuries.
After his arrest, Van Hoomissen was booked into the Tehama County Jail on suspicion of multiple felony charges including attempted murder, kidnapping, two counts of attempted kidnapping, carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon, and other related charges.
Online jail records indicate Van Hoomissen remains in custody, where he is being held in lieu of $5 million bail or bond.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
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 30 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 18 grandchildren.
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