Sonoma County Man Arrested after Police Discover Guns, Ammo, Booby Traps
Above: Items collected during search warrant
(Courtesy of Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)
Originally published by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office:
Just before 7:00 a.m. on December 7, dispatch received multiple reports of someone shooting guns for the past two hours in the 5000 block of Gates Road, Santa Rosa. Deputies responded to determine if the person shooting guns was doing so legally.
Deputies ultimately found the man, later identified as Clint Mitchell, 64, Santa Rosa. He kept his distance and refused to cooperate. They found shotgun and handgun casings on the porch of Mitchell’s home and shotgun cartridges in the road nearby. Deputies left because they could not determine a crime occurred, but they were still concerned about the public’s safety.
Deputies and detectives began researching this situation. In the past seven months, we had received numerous calls about Mitchell unsafely shooting guns on the property, usually in the dark, early morning hours. The Department of Justice had recently listed Mitchell as a person prohibited from owning or possessing guns, but he had 15 guns registered to him.
Violent Crimes Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Mitchell and a search warrant for his property. On the evening of December 9, detectives arrested Mitchell in the 1000 block of Main Street in St. Helena. He had two loaded handgun magazines on him and a loaded shotgun with one round in the chamber in the car. Violent Crimes Detectives and the SWAT team served a search warrant on Mitchell’s property that evening. His home was barricaded and contained makeshift booby traps. They found guns, ammunition, a ballistic vest, spent casings, and bullet holes in the walls. In total, they found 7 guns and approximately thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Mitchell was booked into jail on three felonies: a prohibited person carrying a loaded gun in public, a prohibited person with ammunition, and owning or possessing a gun within 5 years of prohibition. He is in custody on $130,000 bail due to a bail enhancement.
