California DOJ Criminalists assisted with firearm and shell casing analysis

“The work done by California DOJ criminalists is of great assistance to police investigations and the prosecution of suspects accused of crimes big and small.  California DOJ criminalists are true partners in public safety and criminal justice.  We thank them for their service to the State of California.”

–CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

BUTTE COUNTY – On December 31, 2024, Raul Daniel Linarez-Rodriguez, 34, of Chico, was sentenced in Butte County Superior Court to 31 years and four months in state prison for a 2021 gang-related shooting.   He was found guilty as charged of assault with a semi-automatic firearm in October 2024. The jury also found true special allegations that Linarez-Rodriguez used a firearm in the commission of the offense and caused great bodily injury to the victim.  The jury also found Linarez-Rodriguez guilty of reckless discharge of a firearm, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of ammunition. The jury also found true allegations that Linarez-Rodriguez had previously been convicted of a serious and violent felony, specifically a 2005 gang-related shooting for which he had previously served 14 years in state prison.  

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the jury was presented evidence that on October 27, 2021, shortly after 10:00 p.m., a male subject dressed completely in black, with a red bandana covering his face and hood covering his head, approached a gas station and convenience store located at the intersection of East 1st Avenue and Longfellow Avenue in Chico. The masked subject engaged the clerk in a brief discussion and then pulled a semi-automatic handgun and fired two shots. The first shot hit the clerk. The second shot hit a car parked across the street at a fitness center. After firing the shots, the masked subject fled the area. The shooting was witnessed by a nearby citizen who called 911. The victim clerk was transported to Enloe Hospital and treated for a gunshot wound through his upper left thigh.

 The jury was told how detectives from the Chico Police Department used the witness’ description of the masked suspect and security video from the gas station store to identify Linarez-Rodriguez as the shooter. Multiple detectives spent hours independently reviewing the security video frame by frame and were able to identify Linarez-Rodriguez based on gang affiliation, tattoos on visible skin, glasses worn by him, and an unusual physical head tic during the conversation with the clerk.

The prosecution noted detectives were also aware that 15 days before the shooting, on October 12, 2021, Linarez-Rodriguez had been attacked and beaten by members of a rival gang. Although the store clerk was not involved in that incident, detectives determined the clerk was a friend of one of the attackers and an associate of the rival gang. 

Officers arrested Linarez-Rodriguez on November 20, 2021. He was seen driving on East Avenue and the police attempted a traffic stop at the entrance to a local shopping complex. However, Linarez-Rodriguez refused to yield and led police on a pursuit through the shopping center parking lot. He was able to briefly elude police by exiting the parking lot onto Ceanothus Avenue. He was relocated and arrested within three minutes. 

Jurors heard from the owner of a house on Ceanothus Avenue who located a loaded firearm on his front lawn and turned it over to Chico Police. The firearm was the same caliber and physically identical to the firearm seen in the October 27th shooting. The firearm, and shell casings found at the scene of the October 27 shooting were sent to the Department of Justice Criminalistics Lab in Chico for analysis. Criminalists there forensically determined the gun was the one used in the October 27 shooting and found Linarez-Rodriguez’s DNA on the trigger. 

Linarez-Rodriguez was well known to the Chico Police Department because of his prior conviction in 2006 for a gang-related shooting and for subsequent arrests and convictions for being a felon in possession of firearms while on parole for his 2006 conviction.