A man accused of an apparently random sniper shooting in Burney has been ordered to stand trial. In the middle of the night last December 23rd, bullets began bursting into the windows of a second story apartment on Lassen Street in Burney. Several of the people inside dove for cover and were injured, but the main tenant of the apartment ran out the front door and was hit at least once by rifle fire. He was hospitalized in critical condition, but apparently survived. After deputies arrived to investigate, someone approached and said a man with a rifle was sitting in a car near the Burney Theater. As deputies responded there, the car was seen leaving so a high-risk traffic stop was done and 39-year-old Leslie Paul Patterson of McArthur was taken into custody. He apparently had a loaded rifle of the same caliber as the bullets that peppered the apartment. Detectives say that during questioning Patterson admitted to being the shooter, but did not say why he did it and he apparently didn’t even know the people he was targeting. The sheriff’s office said it was a random act. Family members say that Patterson, who’s on parole but hasn’t been in trouble since 2015, visited them earlier in the evening and he seemed paranoid. His charges include multiple counts of attempted murder and shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He had a preliminary hearing Thursday. Trial dates will be set when he returns to court June 10th.
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