One Carson City family is asking the community’s help to bring back a local man to be laid to rest.
Ryan Vrenon, 25, a Carson City native, was shot and killed by police last Thursday in Siskiyou County, Calif., following a vehicle pursuit. According to Mt. Shasta News, Vrenon was parked illegally on the southbound shoulder on I-5 at 6:53 a.m. He became confrontational with California Highway Patrol officers and sped away after they tried to talk with him. Vrenon stopped the car 16 miles later, after officers tried to stop him with a spike strip and pointed a gun at officers. They shot and killed him.
Vrenon’s sister, Rhonda Katelnikoff McCulley, has started a fundraiser to try to bring her brother’s remains back to Carson City. The total cost would be around $2,300 for the cremation and the transport fees to get him back to Carson.
She said the family is saddened, and Vrenon had mental health issues and consistently refused treatment. The family didn’t know Vrenon had a gun with him that day.
“It is a tragic thing,” McCulley said. “He suffered enough with his mental health, now we just want to bring him home.”
McCulley said she has exhausted all possible resources to try to get Vrenon’s remains back to Carson. Many of his family cannot pay because they have their own financial struggles and the county where he was killed also won’t pay because Vrenon wasn’t a resident.
“The goal is to get him home to his kids and his wife and his family so that we can have closure,” McCulley said. “We don’t want his car or anything, we don’t want to see that, we just want him home.”
McCulley said they’re not even worrying about trying to pay for a memorial at the moment, they would rather spend the money to get him home first and worry about a service later.
Vrenon is survived by eight siblings, a wife and two children.
To donate to the family, visit http://www.gofundme.com/4m4m4mb3jnk or contact Rhonda at 775-400-9426.
