Santa Ana Sniper Gunned Down

Police shot and killed a 35-year-old man who opened fire with a rifle from his rooftop, sending officers and residents scurrying for cover Thursday afternoon.

Police said they did not know what motivated the gunman, Ronald G. Theander, to terrorize the neighborhood along the 2400 block of South Towner Street. Residents said Theander had been acting bizarrely the past few days.

Theander, who wore camouflage pants and used a rifle scope, fired at least eight rounds at residents and police before four officers returned fire.

Two SWAT team officers fired at Theander from a nearby two-story house, while two patrol officers shot at him from an adjacent yard. Theander apparently was struck several times and fell or jumped off the roof onto the backyard. He died at the scene, Lt. Robert Helton said.

No one else was injured during the incident, which started about 1:15 p.m. and ended about 30 minutes later.

Officers were called to the scene by a resident who reported that a sniper was firing rounds from his roof.

“All of a sudden we heard about five or six shots,” said Linda Baker, who lives three houses away. “I was shaking all over.”

When police arrived, Theander peered through his scope and started shooting at them. Helton said Theander was armed with a .22 caliber rifle with “two high-capacity magazines” that contained as many as 30 bullets each.

“I don’t know how many rounds he fired, but it was a bunch,” Santa Ana Police Sgt. Bob Clark said.

Theander continued firing as police surrounded his house, residents ducked for cover, and reporters hurried to the location.

“I dove for cover on the grass,” said veteran KFI radio newsman Jay Lawrence, who was one of the first reporters on the scene.

Police were trying to determine what sparked Theander’s rampage, but a couple of officers speculated that he may have had a death wish. Clark said there was no chance for officers to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

“There was was no time,” Clark said. “He was shooting.”

Helton said police were hindered in their attempts to start negotiations because they couldn’t get through to his house on the phone. The occupants, he said, were talking to a reporter from a local newspaper.

Clark, who has seen similar situations throughout his career, said most of the time such snipers are either “crazy, mentally deficient or on drugs.”

Residents said they stayed indoors until the shooting ended.

“The whole street reeked of gun smoke,” said Debbie Newman, 43.

Shortly after the shooting, two women and a man came out of the house and surrendered to police with their hands in the air. Police said they were taken into custody for questioning but not arrested.

During their investigation, police said, they found what appeared to be a bomb at Theander’s house and evacuated everyone on the block. As Theander’s body lay in the backyard, the Orange County sheriff’s bomb squad investigated the device and determined that it was not an explosive.

Police then searched the house but had to stop once again when they encountered a pair of pit bulls. Officials from county animal control were called to remove the dogs.

Police said the house was dirty and in disarray. They also discovered an assortment of weapons, including knives, a revolver and a shotgun.

This was not the first time law enforcement officials had been at the one-story, wood-famed house. Helton said that the state’s Narcotics and Enforcement Bureau had served a search warrant there in October. He did not have further details, and officials with the narcotics bureau were unavailable.

Helton added that Santa Ana officers had been called to the home on other occasions, but he did not have details.

Orange County prosecutors also were acquainted with Theander, having sued him in the past to pay child support for three of his children.

His brother, Randy, who residents say also lives at the house and was at the scene, also had run afoul of Orange County law enforcement. According to court documents, Randy Theander, 23, was convicted last year of possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 90 days in County Jail. A probation report stated that he had “numerous convictions for theft, drug and weapon-related offenses” since 1991.

Several residents said they had seen Ronald Theander over the past few days wearing fatigues and walking up and down Towner Street brandishing knives. Others said Theander, who had worked at a local pet store and had lived in the neighborhood for many years, kept a lot of animals at the home, including dogs, lizards and snakes.

“He was just a little strange,” said Baker, one of Theander’s neighbors. “I never knew him to be violent. He was just kind of weird. I have no idea what set him off.”

The woman who initially called police, but asked not be identified, said Theander was “not all there. I guess he was on drugs most of the time. He was a strange duck.”

About 5:40 p.m. residents were allowed to return to their homes. Police asked them to look around their houses for bullet holes.

“It’s getting to be a pretty scary place around here,” Newman said.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Anna Cekola.