The Cedarville Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute people in Modoc County, California, about 30 miles (48 km) south of the Oregon border.
Contents
Government
Cedarville Rancheria is headquartered in Alturas, California, which is 20 miles west of Cedarville. They are governed by a democratically elected tribal council who each serve a three-year term. Melissa Davis is the Chairwoman, daughter of the late deceased Chairman, Rurik Davis. .
Reservation
The Cedarville Rancheria is a federally recognized ranchería with an area of 20 acres. Founded in 1914, it had six residents on 17 acres in 1990. The 2010 census recorded 13 inhabitants. It is located within the unincorporated community of Cedarville.
2014 shooting attack
On February 20, 2014, Cherie Lash Rhoades, the former tribal chairperson (who had been recently ousted and was under federal investigation over at least $50,000 in missing funds), opened fire in the tribe's Alturas office during a tribal eviction meeting. She killed four people and wounded two others. When she ran out of ammunition, she grabbed a butcher knife from the office kitchen and stabbed one other person. Rhoades was attending an eviction hearing at the office (against her and her son) when she began her attack.
Police arrested Rhoades after she ran outside and took her into custody. Those killed included the suspect's brother, 50-year-old Rurik Davis; her niece, 19-year-old Angel Penn; and her nephew, 30-year-old Glenn Calonicco. The fourth person killed was 47-year-old Sheila Lynn Russo, the tribal administrator and mother of two teenagers.