A 72-year-old California man was charged for allegedly shooting two teens and a mother before setting their bodies on fire after they wouldn't get off his property earlier this month.
Don Clark, of Chico, was charged with three felony counts of murder and one count of arson in court Friday after firefighters found three dead Sacramento residents smouldering in a burnt car several miles from his home on June 13, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Prosecutors said Clark shot Roland Lowe, 15, his mother Colleen Lowe, 46, and Richard Jones Jr., 17, with a 12-gauge pump shotgun when he saw them walking to his home the evening of June 12.
'He saw them come into his place. He wanted them off and that's when the shooting occurred,'Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said outside court after Clark's arraignment Friday.
Ramsey said Clark asked the victims to get off his property before opening fire, according to KRCRTV.com.
Prosecutors said Clark then put the bodies in the vehicle the group arrived in, driving over 20 miles away to dump the car on Skyway Road near the community of DeSabla. Investigators believe Clark biked back to his home.
Firefighters found the bodies shortly after midnight the next day after they extinguished the fire.
Clark's neighbors told several news outlets they were shocked by the charges. Clark was known as a community volunteer--even recycling items on his own property.
John Clark, no relation, said the accused murderer was quiet. He said he's known Clark for nine years.
'He was a good friend of mine at one point,' John Clark told KRCRTV.com.
'He didn't curse, he didn't smoke, he didn't drink and he did not steal,' he added. 'And he did not tolerate bad behavior from other people.'
John Clark also told CBS13 that Clark was an 'upstanding man', though he had an angry streak.
Speculating Clark's motive for the alleged triple-murder to CBS13, John Clark said Clark was 'taking the law into his own hands. He probably felt like an enforcer.'
Clark volunteered for community projects, including parking cars at a recent pancake breakfast to raise money for a local bridge. He also volunteered to clean up Butte Creek Canyon.
When the group arrived at Clark's home, they parked the car on the 14000 block of Centerville Road and walked down a dirt path to Clark's property, where prosecutors said they were shot.
One of the victims was shot in the side and the others were shot in the front, according to the Chico Enterprise-Record. Clark allegedly used gasoline to set the car on fire.
Firefighters found two bodies in the trunk of the Acura and one in back seat.
'This is just a tragic situation where tempers flared and death occurred,' Ramsey said, noting the murders didn't appear to be drug related.
Police are still waiting for DNA identification of the bodies found in the burnt Acura, but court papers named the victims reportedly based on circumstantial evidence.
In addition to other resources used to connect the bodies to Clark, Jones' mother called the Sheriff's Office to report her son was missing in the area.
A week after the bodies were found, police served a search warrant on Clark's property at 5 a.m. on Wednesday. Investigators eventually found a shotgun in Clark's storage unit in Chico.
Clark was questioned by police for a day and Sheriff's Lt Al Smith told the Enterprise-Record he was cooperative. He was eventually read his right to remain silent and police arrested him after several more interviews.
The District Attorney's Office hasn't decided if they will consider the death sentence for Clark. If convicted, Clark also faces life in prison without parole.
Source: DailyMail
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