New details are emerging surrounding a bomb scare that caused an evacuation in Wheatland.
The otherwise quiet community of Wheatland was shaken Wednesday evening after a bomb scare was tied to a homicide.
“All of a sudden [I] hear those initial four shots and I go on the couch in the living room with the house wide open,” said Robert Kesterson. “I said, ‘those were gunshots.'”
The disturbing events unfolded on G Street next to Kesterson’s home.
Wheatland Police say they found 55-year-old Ralph Mendez shot inside his home.
Those who lived near Mendez describe him as a good neighbor.
“He has helped all the elderly people on this street,” said Kesterson.
Kesterson said he watched the suspect, later identified by Wheatland Police as Rory Banks, turn himself in after the deadly shooting.
Police audio revealed Banks called dispatch and said he “just shot somebody dead.”
When officers arrived, they searched the area where Banks lived with his wife and son. After raiding his home, police found a suspicious device and called the bomb squad, triggering the nearby evacuations.
“The next thing I knew there was a police officer at the door saying that the bomb squad has found something suspicious at the neighbors and we were all having to evacuate,” said Shelby Magee, who was evacuated due to the bomb scare.
Families were evacuated for hours. Police later determined the device to be a cell phone jammer, used to prevent anyone from tracking a cell phone. The evacuation orders were lifted after the bomb squad deemed the area safe.
Wheatland Police Chief Damiean Sylvester says Banks is cooperating and investigators are searching for a motive.
“We don’t think it was a random act,” said Sylvester. “We believe that the victim was targeted.”
Though police say they don’t have a motive in the killing, neighbors believe the it had to do with the victim’s criminal past, which is known to many in the community.
Mendez was released from prison in 2011 after serving two years for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.
Kesterson says despite his criminal past, his neighbor didn’t deserve what happened to him.
“Ralph was… He was a very gentle person,” said Kesterson. “I figure he’s done his time.”
Banks was arrested by Wheatland Police and is being held at the Yuba County Jail.
I bet some politicians will get the bright idea of forcing RC’s out of the community to prevent collateral damage to others rather than preventing people from being a target in the first place. Were this a state were residence restrictions were a thing, it would happen for sure.
Another one to add because of our public hit list! Is this ever going to end?
Police can’t think of a motive. Maybe the fact the victim was an offender (which they would know) might have something to do with it? Vigilante justice is alive in America. Something similar happened in Oklahoma recently, right?
This is a story of yet another tragic murder of a registrant. A registrant who was living peacefully in the community. A registrant who helped his elderly neighbors. A registrant who was a law abiding citizen for more than 10 years after his release from prison. RIP, Ralph Mendez. We mourn your passing. You will be missed.
Just heard about this. Vicki from WAR told me about it tonight. Very sad! I’m working on getting a hold of the neighbor that was interviewed in the news story (older gentleman). I hope to be able to talk with him on my YouTube channel or podcast. We need to hear from character witnesses that show how harmful and dangerous the registry can be.
Is it me, or have there been more murders lately?
A candlelight vigil up there in North Cal would probably carry a lot of influence if well publicized.
This isn’t right. We should create a Ralph Mendez law to protect registrants and their families. This could have been any one of us. There should be a pushback to get records off the streets and back in police stations as originally created. The internet is a Beast that cannot be tamed.
I’d rather have a Person Forced to Register as a neighbor than unstable psycho next door. Witch hunts continue however today’s witch are People on the hit lists and their families.
Does anyone want to bet that LE out there is desperately searching for another possible motive than the victim being a registrant?
We may want to consider writing to the Wheatland PD and the local news out there. I have a hunch that is the registry was the only motive here, they’ll avoid publicizing it.
How long does it take to distinguish a cell phone jammer from a bomb? Was that just a side show to draw attention away from the motive?
On a side note: don’t answer your door to people you don’t know! There was no mention if the door was opened or forced but if it was forced open, that would help determine the motive.
Mr. Mendez’s neighbors have more common sense than the police chief. The neighbors believe Mr. Mendez was targeted because of his past due to being on the Vigilantes Hit List. Hopefully his neighbors have a candlelight vigil to honor Mr. Mendez and what he did for his neighbors; which is more honorable than the ones who cast judgment on him. May the scum who murdered you rot in prison.
Rest In Peace Mr. Mendez
It doesn’t matter if he was a “good neighbor.”
It doesn’t matter if he helped others on his street.
It doesn’t matter if he waved and was friendly.
It doesn’t matter if was alternatively quiet and kept to himself.
It doesn’t matter if he talked to his mailbox, was weird and sat under a tree in his front yard.
Why does any of that matter!?
We all KNOW the real motive: Targeted hate from just being on the registry.
Funny how those neighbors are pretending to humanize him post-humorously after he’s no longer a “safety concern” for them..
To every sex offender liveing in California you guys are officially under attack and law enforcement isn’t here to protect and serve.
Ralph Mendez was killed because he was a sex offender the police don’t wanna acknowledge the fact because it would mean their responsible for his death them and their hit list but that’s why they created IML to make sure you all suffer.
America loved slavery they only stopped it because they couldn’t control them anymore when the slaves started organizing and lobbying they realized they had the numbers and out of fear the federal government freed the them
So I wonder what’s it gonna take for sex offenders to start fighting back? What are you guys gonna do about this are you guys gonna sit behind your computers all scared wateing for Janice Bellucci ACSOL to come rescue you or are you guys gonna do something about this Janice Bellucci bless her heart is only one person she can’t do everything you guys in California need to start pulling your own weight.
Good luck🤔
Again, with all these murders and violence targeting “sex offenders,” how does Megan’s Law, being a government-sanctioned hit list, not exacerbate one or more of the Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez factors in declaring ‘sex offender’ registration punishment? A death sentence is excessive, cruel and unusual, as well as disproportionate.
Sex offender registration does not promote rehabilitation and reintegration. And the sickest part is that nowadays, a kid is more likely to end up as a registered sex offender than to be victimized.
https://twitter.com/reason/status/983316094088691713
Going to keep happening, and no civil rights groups, or anyone that can make a difference, are going to stop it apparently no matter who or what they are.. We are dispensable in the eyes of most, “apparently”…
The person who wrote this abc10.com news article is complicit in this murder. They may not realize it, but they are. All people who say “sex offender” are. They deserve consequences.
Further proof that the public in general CANNOT be trusted to act responsibly with sensitive information from the Registry. In fact it engenders criminal behavior like harassment, assault, and murder on Registrants…
The public NEVER has benefited from the Registry in the first place because it has not prevented sex crimes at all since most new sex crimes are committed by people who are NOT on the Registry. Again I equate the Registry with a condom full of holes – it offers no protection, provides a false sense of security, a waste of resources, and encourages irresponsible behavior.
Say NO to the Registry!!! No more condoms with holes!
If a federal judge (or her son) opens the door and gets shot, the whole country shudders and mourns. If the same happens to a registered citizen, nobody seems to give a shit. I wonder how former California Assemblywoman Nicole Parra would feel if one day she opened the door and had a gun pointed at her? Would she know, if just for a brief moment, how Mr. Mendez and others felt just before being executed by hateful vigilantes? Would she feel regret or remorse for her dastardly movement that put California’s registry online back in 2004? I doubt it. People like Nicole Parra probably do not have any kind of a conscience even though she now has blood on her hands!
“….Banks is cooperating and investigators are searching for a motive.”
“We don’t think it was a random act,” said [Police Chief] Sylvester. “We believe that the victim was targeted.”
Wait, you have him in custody and he is cooperating, but you are still searching for a motive?? Gee, how ’bout you just ASK HIM!!? 🙄 “We don’t think it was random….’believe victim was targeted. Good job, Chief Obvious! 🙄🤦🏻♂️
The article does a lovely job of making the cops look like idiots.
Ralph Mendez’s family should sue and bankrupt Rory Banks’s family, including any monies paid for an attorney. Ralph’s family should also sue the city/county/state for his murder, the list is nothing more than a hit-list.