Chico felon sentenced to over 11 years in prison for gas station shooting
CHICO, Calif. — A Chico man was sentenced to over 11 years in prison on Wednesday for charges related to a shooting at a gas station in November.
At the end of February, District Attorney Mike Ramsey said 32-year-old Patrick Dowell-Rollins pled no-contest to multiple charges including assault with a semi-automatic firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and dissuading witnesses.
Ultimately, Ramsey said Judge Corie Caraway sentenced Dowell-Rollins to 11 years, 8 months in state prison, while noting the seriousness of his crimes and two prior felon-in-possession convictions.
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On Nov. 7, 2022, Ramey says Butte County deputies responded to 911 calls about a shooting at a Mobile Gas Station on Longfellow Avenue and East First Avenue. Dowell-Rollins was reportedly caught on the gas station's security cameras pulling up to a fuel pump and filling his car. At one point, Dowell-Rollins walked away from his car and out of the view of the video. Witnesses said Dowell-Rollins walked up to a man and then heard a "pop." The security feed then showed Dowell-Rollins calmly walking back to his car and drive away.
Ramsey said Chico Police SWAT found and arrested Dowell-Rollins in a driveway of a home on Nov. 23, 2022. He was reportedly arrested with a holster strapped to his chest with a semi-automatic .45 caliber handgun inside. Ramsey said detectives determined the spent casing found at the scene of the shooting was from that handgun.
While awaiting a preliminary hearing at the Butte County Jail, Ramsey said Dowell-Rollins made made a phone call to an outside associate requesting the witnesses and their relatives to be contacted. However, officials said detectives intercepted the call and stopped Dowell-Rollins's plan.
Dowell-Rollins's crimes of assault with a firearm and dissuading witnesses both constitute as "strikes" under state law, according to Ramsey, and he will be subject to sentencing under the state's three-strikes law. Ramsey says the the dissuading charge added two years to Dowell-Rollins's sentence.
Since he plea, however, Ramsey said the victim of the shooting died due to causes unrelated to the shooting.
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