By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
Orland, March 11, 2021 – A month ago today, at about 9:25 a.m., a woman was shot at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and East Mill Street, wounding her in the hand.
Later that same day, the Orland Police Department released a statement about the shooting. It read:
“Thursday, February 11, 2021, at about 9:25 a.m., Orland P.D. officers responded to the intersection of Woodward Avenue and East Mill Street in Orland for a report of shots fired. Officers arrived and located several spent bullet casings and broken glass near the intersection. Witnesses reported a dark red sedan leaving the area at a high rate of speed.
“Officers were later contacted by staff at Enloe Medical Center, reporting a 36-year-old female arrived at Enloe Medical Center with an apparent gunshot wound. Chico police officers assisted Orland P.D. by securing the maroon Honda Accord until officers arrived. Officers contacted the victim, who reported an unknown suspect shot the vehicle while she was in the passenger seat. The victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was later treated.
“The investigation is ongoing and the Orland Police Department would like to urge anybody with information about the incident to contact Sergeant Cessna at 530-865-1616.”
Since this vague press release, more information has come to light. Sergeants Cessna and Johnson found the broken glass and bullet casings at the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and East Mill Street.
While they were going over the scene, Officer Edgar Andrade contacted Rosalinda Lopez at 910 Woodward Avenue, which is the residence on the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and East Mill Street. Lopez reported hearing multiple loud pops, which she believed were gunshots, and she heard a woman screaming.
At about 9:45 a.m., Glenn County Sheriff’s dispatch told Sergeant Cessna of a victim with an apparent gunshot wound to the right arm at Enloe Medical Center in Chico. Officer Andrade arrived there at about 10:25 a.m.
Officer Andrade contacted Chico Police Officer Winston Capucion, who was standing by with the vehicle the victim had arrived in. The vehicle was a red 2003 Honda Accord, California license plate number 8ARH086.
Officer Andrade noticed both the driver and front passenger windows were missing and he saw two bullet holes in the windshield. The vehicle was under a red canopy, which was placed there by Enloe staff per Officer Capucion’s request, in order to protect the evidence from the rain.
Officer Andrade asked Officer Capucion to stand by with the Honda while he entered the hospital to speak with the victims. Inside, Office Andrade was shown to a room, where he contacted Samantha Alyssa Joline Bible, of 4176 County Road M, Orland, a property owned by Jack Schmitke of Forest Ranch.
While speaking with Bible, a nurse was dressing a gunshot wound to her right hand. Bible told the officer that she and Grant Schmitke were going to pick up some keys from a friend in the area of Woodward Avenue and East Mill Street.
Bible said they arrived in the area and were looking for Schmitke’s friend and the next thing she knew, they were being shot at. Bible said she was seated in the front passenger seat of the Honda when she was shot. Bible said about five shots were fired.
Bible told Officer Andrade the vehicle belonged to her and she did not give permission to search it. In reality, it was later learned the Honda was registered to Crystal Ellinwood of Live Oak.
Officer Andrade left Bible’s room and was shown to Schmitke’s room by hospital staff. Schmitke had admitted himself due to a preexisting injury.
Schmitke told the officer he was driving south on Woodward Avenue and pulled up to the corner of Woodward and East Mill Street to meet somebody. Schmitke claimed he did not know the identity of the person he was supposed to meet.
Schmitke said the suspect in the shooting was a Hispanic man in his 20s. He had a thin build and was about five-feet-nine-inches tall. He was wearing black clothing. Schmitke did not immediately see a firearm.
It gets a little confusing here: Schmitke believed his moniker was “Trigger.” Schmitke did not know if the suspect was actually “Trigger,” but he said he owed “Trigger” money.
Officer Andrade returned to the hospital parking lot, where Officer Capucion was standing by with the Honda. Officer Andrade photographed the vehicle and completed a CHP 180 form for the seizure of the Honda.
Bambauer Towing arrived and loaded the vehicle. Officer Andrade told the driver to transport it to the City of Orland Corporation Yard, where it was placed in a building with surveillance cameras.
Officer Andrade believed that a search of the Honda would result in the seizure of evidence that will help to determine the events that resulted in the injury of Bible, and secondly, if not, will help to determine the sequence of events preceding the injuries.
It may or may not be relevant that both Bible and Schmitke have had encounters with Glenn County law enforcement in incidents allegedly involving illicit drugs.
The Glenn County Observer 