Flanked by a family member and his girlfriend, Thomas “T-Bear” Kinder peacefully surrendered himself to authorities Wednesday afternoon for his role in a New Year's Eve shooting in Hoopa that left a man hospitalized.

”Is there a reward for bringing me in? If so, she brought me,” Kinder joked after turning himself in to the Eureka Police Department main station. “She brought me in at finger point.”

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Lt. George Cavinta told the Times-Standard earlier this week that investigators believe Kinder shot a 33-year-old man with a handgun shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 31.

In a phone interview with the Times-Standard just hours before surrendering to authorities, Kinder admitted to shooting the man, but said it was in self-defense.

The man's name is being withheld by authorities, who said he remains in a local hospital.

Investigators and Kinder agree the New Year's Eve shooting was the result of an altercation that occurred several days earlier.

Cavinta said authorities had been searching for Kinder since the Dec. 28 altercation, when Kinder allegedly struck the man in the head with a flashlight. Kinder said that incident, too, was self-defense.

Kinder said he was walking home on Dec. 28 when he came across a large mud puddle on the side of the road. To avoid the puddle, Kinder said he crossed the lawn of a roadside home. The alleged victim then came out of the residence

and he and Kinder exchanged words, Kinder said.

At that point, Kinder said the alleged victim and his brother, who was carrying a large knife, attacked him.

”I would have knuckled up if it had just been me and (the alleged victim), but his brother came out with a big knife,” Kinder said, adding that he used the flashlight he was carrying as a weapon, striking both men in the head, leaving them unconscious. “I did what I had to do to defend myself.”

Kinder was wanted by Hoopa Tribal Police after the incident, but didn't turn himself in, saying he hoped if he laid low the situation would blow over.

”Things just disappear out here,” he said. “I didn't want to go turning myself in to the tribal police because I didn't trust them.”

Kinder said his girlfriend, Erin Chenault, and a friend were then driving in his car on the afternoon of Dec. 31, when they were stopped by the alleged victim. Kinder said the man kicked his girlfriend in the stomach and tried to kick in the car window before saying he had a gun and was looking to kill Kinder.

When word of the incident got back to Kinder, he said he was worried for his safety and immediately looked to get out of the area.

”When he told my girl that he had a gun and was looking to kill me, that's when I went and dusted off my piece and put it on my hip,” Kinder said. “That's why I had the gun that night.”

Kinder said he asked a friend to give him a ride out of town, but the friend instead dropped him off not far from the alleged victim's house, refusing to take him any farther. Immediately feeling uneasy, Kinder said he then called his girlfriend to come pick him up.

A short time later, while walking along the road, Kinder said he heard a car pull up and thought it was his girlfriend before recognizing the car as the alleged victim's.

”He stopped at Marshall Road on the way to his house,” Kinder said. “He just slammed his car to a halt in the street and said, 'This is it, we're going to settle this right here and now -- it's over, Kinder.'”

Kinder said he started taking off his jacket, preparing for a fist fight, but claimed he noticed the alleged victim raising a revolver at him as he exited his car.

”The only reason I pulled a gun is because I saw him coming at me with his,” Kinder said. “I was ready to knuckle up. I don't go waving guns around. The only time I pull it is if the trigger is going to be pulled right behind it.”

Kinder said he fired a single shot into the man's abdomen before fleeing the scene. Law enforcement and media reports, Kinder said, have the story all wrong.  

”Because (he) is not right in the head, I got stuck with making a decision I didn't want to make,” Kinder said, adding that he felt the situation was certain to have ended with either him or the other man shot. “I didn't want to get shot in the back running away. Now, I'm made out to be some kind of animal, but it didn't have to be that way. ...It was either him or me, what was I supposed to do?”

Cavinta said authorities don't know the motive behind the alleged attacks, but said, as he understands it, Kinder waved down the alleged victim's passing vehicle on New Year's Eve and that it was Kinder, not the alleged victim, who initiated the altercation.

After Kinder surrendered Wednesday, Sheriff Detective Troy Garey, the lead investigator on the case, said he would interview him. At deadline Wednesday, no charging decision had been made.

Authorities said they expect more information to be available today.

Kinder said he always planned on turning himself in.

”I'm going to accept responsibility for my actions, I just want people to know they were out of self- defense,” Kinder said. “I wasn't out there causing mayhem.”

Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or

tgreenson@times-standard.com