A family tragedy on Starburst Court

23-year-old man shoots three family members, turns gun
on himself
by BERT WILLIAMS, News Editor
A Sonoma County family has been devastated by a tragic turn of
events that took place in a quiet Windsor neighborhood last
week.
Windsor Police officers were summoned to 936 Starburst Court at
12:36 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3 after a woman called 911 to report a
shooting in her home. According to Windsor Police Sgt. Sandy
Geaslin, the woman, who had been shot herself, remained on the
phone as police rushed to the scene.
When they arrived, officers found the woman inside the house
seriously injured, and two other victims – a man and a woman –
dead. All three had apparently been shot.
After searching the house, and summoning the Sheriff’s
helicopter to search for the shooter, police assisted with the
transfer of the injured victim to the ambulance, then retreated to
the street, leaving the two dead victims inside the house until a
search warrant could be obtained.
Windsor Police Chief Paul Day, who was on the scene, explained
that, in such a situation, maintaining the integrity of the crime
scene, while caring for the wounded victim, is of critical
importance to the subsequent investigation.
The wounded victim was Sherrie Topper-Rader, age 48. She
remained conscious, and was able to identify the attacker. She told
police it was her son, Christopher Topper, age 23.
Topper had been released from the county jail the previous
Friday by Sonoma County Judge Gary Nadler.
Sheriff’s deputies mounted an intensive search for the
assailant, thought to be driving a 1985 champaign-colored BMW. As
investigators stood on the street in front of the house waiting for
the search warrant, Day said police had an idea where Topper might
be headed.
A short time later, Santa Rosa Police officers spotted the
suspect’s BMW and attempted to stop Topper near his grandmother’s
residence on Cardinal Way in Rincon Valley. As police approached
the car, Topper shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber pistol.
It was the gun used in the earlier shootings. According to
Sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. Dave Edmonds, the gun had been stolen
from a relative who had it locked up in his house.
Topper was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where he
was listed in critical condition.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Violent Crimes Unit and Crime
Scene Investigation Unit identified the deceased victims as Howard
Rader, 61, of Windsor and Carolyn Day, 43, of Santa Rosa. Rader was
Sherrie Topper-Rader’s husband. He had retired several years
earlier from his position as a bailiff at the county courthouse.
Day was Topper-Rader’s sister. She operated a business in
Sonoma.
After the search warrant was issued, Sheriff’s detectives
searched the crime scene for forensic evidence, and coroner’s
deputies removed the bodies from the house. Investigators were on
the scene, according to Chief Day, until around 10 p.m.
The following day at 9:15 a.m., Chistopher Topper died in the
hospital from his self-inflicted wounds.
Edmonds said detectives are still trying to discover what led up
to the shootings. He noted that Topper was apparently distressed
over efforts by his family and friends to help him with mental
health and drug abuse problems.
But Topper’s attorney, Andy Martinez, said that it had appeared
to him, during the time preceding Topper’s release from jail, that
his mental situation had improved considerably.
“I talked to Chris the night before court,” said Martinez. “He
understood and agreed with the terms (of his possible release) … In
court he was calm, quiet, respectful and appropriate.”
Martinez said he and Rader were friends, and he was sure Rader
would have raised concerns with him if he had foreseen serious
problems with Topper’s release from jail, where he had been held on
charges of public drunkenness and resisting arrest.
Topper’s mother had been seeking his release so that she could
get additional psychiatric help for her son.
Martinez said he has thought a lot about the shootings during
the past few days. “Given what information we had before us, and
the kind of crime he was being held for,” said Martinez, “I don’t
think any of us would have done anything differently.”
Chief Day observed that, with the suspect now dead, reasons
behind the shootings will probably never be fully understood.
“That’s what the investigation will be now,” said Day, “tracing
his movements before the shooting, trying to reconstruct what
happened. But we may never really know.”