Red Bluff, California · April 14, 2019 · Red Bluff Police Department
Henry William Lane, 42, of Red Bluff, was shot and killed by RBPD Cpl. Stephen Harper just after midnight on April 14, 2019, on Antelope Boulevard just east of Rio Street. Per the official account, officers began life-saving measures until paramedics arrived; he was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Official record
Per the 2019 official account: a 911 call reported a man in mental-health crisis banging on a closed business and screaming that he wanted a gun. Officers later found Lane at a bus stop; four officers approached with guns and tasers drawn. Less-lethal attempts — a stun gun and bean-bag rounds — failed, and Harper fired one round, striking Lane in the upper body. The Tehama County District Attorney ruled the shooting legally justified (reported October 2020). Body-worn camera footage exists.
Family & witness accounts
Lane's family says he was harassed by police in the weeks leading up to his death. The family's Facebook page published an April 17, 2019 video containing the first 9 minutes 50 seconds of audio from 12:20 AM on April 14, audio from the earlier call that night, and audio from three weeks prior described as another unnecessary use of force. Radio logs covering the prior weeks were independently requested and posted by a private citizen — they do not appear in the department's own video release or press presentation, which covered the incident itself.
Why he is on the wall
The reviewing authority ruled from a record that omitted the weeks-long pattern preceding the shooting. The pattern evidence exists only because it was independently requested and published. A ruling built on an incomplete record is an incomplete ruling — and the public deserves to see what the file left out.
Status: Under public review. Family contact welcome via the contact card.
Case 002 — Douglas “Doug” Harless
Lily, Laurel County, Kentucky · December 23, 2024 · London Police Department
Douglas Harless, 63, was shot and killed in his own living room at 511 Vanzant Road, Lily, Kentucky, near midnight on December 23, 2024. London Police Department officers were executing a search warrant for stolen lawn equipment — a warrant written for 489 Vanzant Road. They raided 511. Awakened by intruders breaching his door, Harless stood in his living room holding a handgun. Detective Joshua Morgan fired five rifle rounds through the doorway, killing him. Harless never fired a shot. Round trajectories were recovered from the storm door, walls, refrigerator, and kitchen cabinets.
Official record
The Kentucky State Police investigative file — over 1,000 pages, released only after a court order following 14+ months withheld — established: dispatch audio has officers broadcasting the 489 address while raiding 511, realizing the error only after the shooting; “511” was posted on the house and lit by a motion light; officers claimed four sources had verified the address, and KSP tested all four — none supported it; the department’s mandatory address-verification policy was violated, with no operational plan and no supervisory oversight; and the informant, already in custody, never named Harless or his address.
Why he is on the wall
A midnight raid hit the wrong house. A 63-year-old man, awakened by his own door being breached, was killed in his living room without firing a shot — and the department’s own dispatch audio recorded the wrong address being broadcast as it happened. The file documenting all of it was withheld for over a year and released only by court order. On February 20, 2026, a grand jury returned a no-bill with a special prosecutor presenting; Morgan resigned after the records became public.
Status: Daughters Nicki Lawson and Mona Alsip filed a federal wrongful-death suit October 7, 2025 — Lawson v. London Police Department, 6:25-cv-00176 (E.D. Ky.), naming the City of London and 11 officers. On February 24, 2026, all Laurel County elected officials jointly requested an FBI/DOJ Civil Rights Division investigation; Governor Beshear backed federal review. Family contact welcome via the contact card.
Update — September 17, 2026: Judge Robert E. Wier ruled on the dismissal motions (Docket Entry 28): the three motions to dismiss were denied without prejudice as moot — not on the merits — and may be re-raised against the new complaint. The motion to amend was granted in part: London Police Department was dropped as a separate defendant, Capt. Ryan Jackson was added as a defendant, and time-bar questions were deferred to discovery. Plaintiffs were ordered to file the corrected amended complaint within 7 days, and the case was referred to Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram for scheduling, with discovery to commence regardless of any new dismissal motion.
Sources: WKYT (wrong-home report), FOX 56 (case file), WTVQ (records report), CourtListener (docket), govinfo (DE 28 opinion & order).
Case 003 — John “Jocko” Souza
Redding, California · February 15, 2017 · Michael Lake
John “Jocko” Souza was shot and killed in Redding, California, on February 15, 2017. He is survived by family and friends. He was killed by Michael Lake with a Ruger 9mm while unarmed, and authorities said the shooting was justified. An independent investigations team citing KRCR, March 1, 2017, identifies him as John “Jocko” Souza, AKA John Parks.
Official record
Pending.
Family & witness accounts
Per the public petition calling for the investigation to be reopened: Souza was shot point-blank, one time, while entirely unarmed, after an ongoing dispute over a vehicle Souza had sold Lake. The petition says Lake allegedly tried to run Souza off the road while he was riding a bicycle that night, waited at a stoplight, and shot him as he approached the vehicle. The petition, published March 24, 2026, has 786 signatures and asks Redding authorities, the California Department of Justice, and the Attorney General to reopen the case.
Why he is on the wall
Meets the wall criteria: a death by shooting, with the victim unarmed per the family and petition accounts, and no prosecution following a justified / self-defense ruling.
Status: Placed November 3, 2026. Official record pending. Family contact welcome via the contact card.
Sources: family messages, November 3, 2026; Change.org petition, “Re-open the investigation into John ‘Jocko’ Souza’s killing at the hands of Michael Lake”; KRCR, “Video of deadly shooting on Hartnell surfaces” (krcrtv.com); Record Searchlight, “Police identify Redding bicyclist killed in shooting” (Feb. 21, 2017) (redding.com); Record Searchlight, “DA’s office finds four shootings were self-defense” (Dec. 14, 2017) (redding.com).
Department of Justice and Attorney General contact: U.S. Department of Justice — justice.gov, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001, 202-514-2000; California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General — oag.ca.gov, Public Inquiry Unit, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, 916-445-9555, toll-free 800-952-5225, report at oag.ca.gov/report.
Case 004 — Robert A. Gibbs
Shasta County, California · 2013 — present · Publisher, shastacountywars.com
Robert A. Gibbs, publisher of shastacountywars.com, alleges that Shasta County and State of California officials subjected him to a continuous course of retaliation from 2013 to the present, after he filed civil-rights lawsuits against them. He alleges: a warrantless entry and arrest by Fish and Wildlife officers in 2013; a false felon-in-possession charge by Deputy Chris Edwards that was dismissed at arraignment; a multi-year jail term for speech on a private phone call in September 2015; years of solitary confinement and abuse in the Shasta County jail, with grievances, medical care, attorney access, and visits with his infant daughter denied; retaliatory prosecution by District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett, including a coerced guilty plea; and the removal of his infant daughter by a parole agent. He alleges the Board of Supervisors was given notice of the jail-abuse allegations in August 2023 and again in February 2024 and took no protective action. The Board’s own record supports the notice: its minutes for August 1, 2023 list Gibbs as speaking during public comment, with Supervisors Crye, Garman, Rickert, and Jones present, and record no Board action in response to his comments. On August 29, 2023, the Board’s agenda listed “Robert A. Gibbs v. J. Webb, et al.” under closed-session existing litigation.
Gibbs further alleges the conduct was not a series of isolated acts but the work of an ongoing enterprise spanning the Sheriff’s Office and jail, the District Attorney’s office, the Superior Court, and private participants. He names Superior Court Judge Jody Burgess, attorney Jennifer Ayers, and Cherie A. Dubuque in a racketeering allegation, and accuses the three of misusing public resources and self-dealing under California Government Code sections 8314 and 1090, on the theory that the courthouse and county are run to maximize profits for private lawyers, the county, the courthouse, and individuals. In the Mezzano complaint of April 2, 2026, he alleges Judge Cara Beatty and his own former attorney Ryan M. Birss, now a Shasta County judge, participated in coercing his 2018 guilty pleas and forcing him to waive his appeals.
His filed federal case for the jail claims is Gibbs v. Webb, E.D. Cal. No. 2:18-cv-2817. He asks for investigation by an agency outside Shasta County and preservation of all records.
Then and now — the officials and employees named, and where they are
The same people Gibbs accuses of misconduct in the earlier days have since climbed the ranks, including into upper management over the courts. The clearest examples are Cody Jones, now Cody Stenderup — Deputy District Attorney at the time of the events, now Court Executive Officer and Clerk of the Shasta County Superior Court, the office that receives, files, and processes every filing in his matters — and his report documents filings that were never addressed — and Ryan M. Birss, Gibbs’s own attorney at the time, now a Judge of the Shasta County Superior Court (appointed February 2, 2026, sworn in April 17, 2026). Others named in the jail allegations are now lieutenants in the Custody Division (Tanner, Marlar), Boyd is now a CDFW lieutenant, Edwards is listed as a captain in Investigations, and Craig Omura — named as a defendant in Gibbs’s complaint against the District Attorney’s office — rose from Deputy District Attorney to Senior Deputy District Attorney.
Still employed: Stephanie A. Bridgett — District Attorney then, District Attorney now. Cody Jones, now Cody Stenderup — Deputy District Attorney then, Court Executive Officer / Clerk of the Court since May 5, 2025. John M. Feser Jr. — California Deputy Attorney General then, Senior Counsel, FPPC Legal Division (2025). Michael L. Johnson — Sheriff, appointed July 27, 2021, in office now. Brian Boyd — Fish and Wildlife officer then, Lieutenant, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (2025). Larry Tanner — Sergeant, jail then, Lieutenant, Custody Division now. Dale Marlar — Lieutenant, jail then, Lieutenant, Custody Division now. Chris Edwards — Deputy Sheriff then, listed as Captain, Investigations Division (identity link likely, not independently confirmed). Ryan M. Birss — Gibbs’s attorney then, Judge, Shasta County Superior Court (appointed February 2, 2026, sworn in April 17, 2026). Craig Omura — Deputy District Attorney (2014), Senior Deputy District Attorney (2019–2024).
No longer in the role: Tom Bosenko — Sheriff then, retired December 30, 2019. Dave Kent — Lieutenant / Jail Captain then, Jail Captain through August 2024, no longer in the county directory. Leonard Moty — Supervisor then, recalled February 1, 2022.
Current status not verified: Sergeants Chase Reed, Rodgers, and South; Deputies Cortez, Casey Barnhardt, Jessie Webb, and Brandon Brown; Sergeant Brian Jackson; Parole Agent Mitch Crofoot. No rank climb found for Shon Northam (still a Redding criminal defense attorney), Jeff Jens, or John Carelli.
Documentation from the ShastaWars site
Pulled from the site’s document library and verified against the site files, November 5, 2026. These were not cited in the draft report.
Five Superior Court case numbers with incident dates (Somers bail motion, filed March 12, 2018): 13M4757 (March 8, 2013 — Fish and Wildlife entry); 14F4854 (July 2, 2014 — Crofoot text message); 14F6355 (July 22, 2014 — driving incident); 15F5464 (August 22, 2015); 15F5736 (September 11, 2015 — Feser call).
September 28, 2017 — the Webb assault, dated. The Gibbs v. Webb complaint (E.D. Cal. No. 2:18-CV-02817) gives the assault in Housing Unit 3-C in detail, and the District Attorney’s own charging document — sworn by Deputy DA Cody Jones, October 10, 2018, DA #F-18-07043 — charged Gibbs with two felony counts for obstructing and resisting Webb and Barnhardt on that same date.
Five filed 2018 federal cases, not just Gibbs v. Webb: 2:18-cv-02261, 02262, 02263, 02594 (malicious prosecution against Bridgett and Jones), and 02817 (Gibbs v. Webb).
State Bar complaints: against District Attorney Bridgett (signed July 15, 2018) and against Cody Jones, State Bar #233271 (signed July 14, 2018).
Two complaints the report listed as “not opened” are now read: the Stephanie Bridgett §1983 complaint form (unfiled, no case number — Gibbs v. Bridgett, the County, Cody Jones, and Craig Omura; events December 2012 to August 2020; $7,400,000) and the Northam §1983 complaint (unfiled — alleges Birss entered a coerced plea on Gibbs’s behalf).
The Feser call transcript is on the site (September 11, 2015). It is not quoted here — Gibbs’s own statements in it are explicit, and it complicates the speech framing.
The Luster investigation report (August 27, 2018) is readable. The Luster Declaration itself is still link-only and has not been read.
Correction to the report: Judge Cara Beatty IS named on the website — the Bar complaint against Cody Jones names “the Honorable Judge Cara Beatty’s Court.” The report’s supplement said she was new from the Gmail files and not on the website; that was wrong.
Status: Placed November 5, 2026. The draft report has not been filed with any agency.
Sources: shastacountywars.com (Robert A. Gibbs, Publisher; the founder, Editor); Draft report of allegations by Robert A. Gibbs, November 5, 2026; Shasta County Board of Supervisors, Minutes, August 1, 2023; Shasta County Board of Supervisors, Meeting Agenda, August 29, 2023 (item R12).
