After surviving a mass shooting, the Tehama County family loses family to tragedy

NORTH STATE, California – Almost exactly seven years after a Tehama County family survived the deadly 2017 mass shooting in Rancho Tehama, they lost three members in a tragic boating accident outside Bodega Bay.

It still hurts what their last moments were like,” Tiffany Phommathep said through tears. “And I’m not there to protect them.

Seven years ago, on November 14, Tiffany Phommathep threw herself before her two oldest sons at Rancho Tehama Elementary. Blocking bullets with her own body.

“It really raises a lot of questions in my mind,” she explained. “I was able to protect them then and this time I’m not there for them, and you know, I feel so sorry for them.”

Although it was traumatic, Tiffany said like most pains it faded, and the family looked forward to their full lives ahead.

“My son JJ was getting ready for college,” she said. “My son Jake, he was fourteen years old, you know. He was getting ready to participate in all kinds of sports. “

Then, on November 2, during a fishing trip that her husband Johnny and her sons had taken at least a half-dozen times before, their boat encountered stormy weather and sank. Only her son’s 13-year-old cousin was found alive. A loss she never saw coming.

“I assumed they would just go out and come back when the weather was bad,” she said.

The body of 17-year-old JJ was recovered shortly after the accident, but her husband and son Jake are still missing. While she is currently in Sacramento waiting for officials to identify a body recovered Wednesday afternoon.

I don’t know why we are put on this journey, or why we have to go through this, but my two sons definitely did not deserve this.

Tiffany said she hopes her son Jake is still alive, even two weeks later.

“I pray for a miracle that will bring him back to me alive,” she cried. “I’m willing to change my life with his.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to support the family through this tragedy. The Shasta Boxing Club also plans to host a fundraiser for the family on November 22, 2024.