MONTGOMERY CREEK MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN SHOOTING OF 3-YEAR-OLD CHILD

Christopher Adam Shirley, 28, of Montgomery Creek, pleaded guilty Aug. 14 to multiple felony charges and special allegations arising out of the July 2 shooting of a 3-year-old girl.

Shirley pleaded guilty to separate charges of assault with a semi-automatic firearm against the child and against her mother, Virginia Henry. He also admitted inflicting great bodily injury on the child, as well as admitting personal use of a firearm and having a prior serious and violent felony strike conviction for robbery in 1998.

The incident occurred on July 2, when Shirley was arguing with Henry outside of their trailer home in a remote area of Montgomery Creek. Shirley began firing a semi-automatic handgun at the trailer and at the feet of Virginia Henry when the 3-year-old daughter of Henry was struck in the lower abdomen by a ricocheting bullet.

Shasta County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted two days later when a witness came forward to report the shooting and the couple’s failure to seek medical attention for the child. Members of the Shasta County Sheriff’s SWAT team responded to the trailer and found the wounded child along with Shirley, Henry, and four other children ranging in age from 1 to 13 years old.

A search of the trailer where the group had been living revealed numerous loaded firearms, marijuana, and a live pipe bomb.

Shirley will be sentenced on Aug. 28 to 46 years, 4 months in state prison. He must serve 85 percent of the sentence (39-1/2 years) before he would be eligible for parole on the Shasta County case.

Shirley is also suspected in the molestation of an 11-year-old girl in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and is expected to be extradited to Oregon to face additional charges after the Shasta County sentence is imposed.

The case was investigated by Shasta County Sheriff’s Detectives Mark Haslam and Jesse Gunsauls and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Brian Popkes and Kelly Kafel.