Boys who survived mass shooting, father believed dead in California boating accident

AI-assisted summary
• One son, 17-year-old Johnny Phommathep II, was found dead, while his brother and father remain missing.
• The U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search after 57 hours.
• After losing her 17-year-old son, Tiffany said she is still holding hope that her husband and other child have survived.

A Northern California family who survived a 2017 mass shooting is now grappling with a fatal boating accident in the small coastal town of Bodega Bay.

Six boaters − three adults and three children − who had gone crabbing off the coast of Bodega Bay on board a 21-foot white Bayliner boat, were reported missing around 10:20 p.m. on Nov. 2 after they failed to return to shore in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, the county sheriff confirmed.

Among the boaters was 17-year-old Johnny Phommathep II, whose body washed on the shore the next day. His younger brother Jake, 14, and their father Johnny, 41, are presumed lost at sea.

The family is from Tehama County, around 180 miles north of Sonoma.

Tiffany Phommathep II, the boys' mother, said her strength amidst tragedy comes from her husband whom she called a "great, great dad," according to local station KTVU-TV. Johnny Phommathep Sr. served in Iraq through the U.S. Air Force and works as a volunteer firefighter.

She elaborated the situation is beyond painful as her sons previously survived gunshot wounds seven years ago during a mass shooting in 2017 in Rancho Tehama.

"They've been through so much, both of my sons Johnny and Jake," Tiffany told KTVU-TV. "Already one tragedy. They made that one, just to come out here."

Five killed in 2017 shooting spree including gunman's wife

In November 2017, gunman Kevin Janson Neal killed five people and injured 14 others in the rural Rancho Tehama community in Tehama County before taking his life. The shooting spree occurred at seven different locations in the area.

The first of the fatalities was Neal's wife, who was killed at their home and whose body was hidden in a hole Neal cut in the floor.

Tiffany Phommathep was hit by bullets while in her truck, along with her two sons Johnny Phommathep Jr. and Jake Phommathep, who were 10 and 7 at the time. Her then 2-year-old son Niko was injured by flying shards of glass that day, according to a Redding Record Searchlight, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Johnny Phommathep Sr., who is presumed lost at sea along with his son Jake, previously detailed the traumatic experience to Record Searchlight in 2017. The army veteran said Tiffany was temporarily knocked unconscious before she held her wound while driving away. She eventually flagged down a sheriff's deputy who helped her.

"My family has always been worth more than gold than anything monetary. Money can't replace my family," he told Record Searchlight in 2017. "I just know I have to try to my best to be around them a little bit more. To pay attention to signs of what I've gone through with residual war."

11-year-old boy on boat found alive on shore

The three Phommathep members onboard the boat were accompanied by a 45-year-old cousin Prasong, his son 11-year-old son Juladi and their longtime friend, 42-year-old Matthew Ong, KGO-TV reported.

Prasong was found alive floating on a cooler the young boy used to survive, according to KGO-TV.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for the remaining four missing boaters around 6:30 p.m. Sunday after an approximately 57 hour search.

“The decision to suspend a search is always difficult to make and never done lightly” U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Michael L. Zapawa said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the missing boaters during this incredibly difficult time."

After losing her 17-year-old son, Tiffany said she is still holding hope that her husband and other child have survived.

"The odds are not likely," she told the Los Angeles Times. "But I would like to hold on to hope that maybe they reached shore somewhere."

A GoFundMe dedicated to support the victims has raised over $40,000 as of Friday evening.

Contributing: Saman Shafiq