One killed, one wounded in Mendocino shootout

<p>One man was killed and another severely injured in Mendocino County’s Round Valley when a party in the woods erupted in gunfire around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.</p><p>The shooting may have roots in a stabbing incident that involved the two men nearly two years ago at a Labor Day rodeo, police and community members said.</p><p>The confrontation Saturday began between Andrew Card, 23, and Jason McLean, 22, who is suspected of pulling a gun as the party of a dozen or so people was winding down, Round Valley Tribal Chief Lindon Duke said.</p><p>Witnesses told investigators that McLean was leaving the gathering when he stopped his car, got out with a high-powered rifle and said a few words to get Card’s attention before firing. A single bullet penetrated Card’s abdoment and arm, according to the Mendocino County sheriff’s office.</p><p>Card took out a handgun and began to shoot at McClean who was about five feet away, and then each shot at each other several times, according to a department press release issued late Saturday. Mcclean was shot at lest four times and died of his injuries, the department said.</p><p>Card suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown by helicopter to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where he underwent surgery, authorities said.</p><p>Both men are tribal members well known in the community, which has been troubled by violence.</p><p>Cora Lee Simmons, a longtime tribal activist, said Saturday’s news was disheartening.</p><p>“Our valley is just getting ravaged with all these needless goings on,” Simmons said. “Now that young man is gone forever. And what do we stand to gain from it?”</p><p>Duke said the party took place on property owned by Redwood Empire Lumber Co. just outside the reservation in northeast Mendocino County.</p><p>Card had served about a year in county jail in connection with the Labor Day stabbing of McLean and also had been sentenced to rehabilitation treatment, Duke said.</p><p>Covelo fire personnel said members of the group were drinking off Short Creek Road at Murphy Ridge Road, about 1½ miles northeast of the town of Covelo.</p><p>The party was near its end when a dispute suddenly arose and McLean fired his gun, Duke said.</p><p>“According to what the witnesses have told us at this point, and I can’t go into a lot of detail, it was just all of a sudden, kind of at the end of the party,” he said.</p>