2 p.m.The man who shot up a Dry Creek home in 2007 was sentenced to 31 years, four months in state prison.

Willis Creech, sentenced last week, must serve about 27 years before he is eligible for parole, according to deputy district attorney Allison Haley, who prosecuted the case.

Creech, 31, who lived in Modesto at the time of the shooting, was found guilty of shooting into his Napa father-in-law’s home, where his wife and two young children had gone to take refuge from him last September.

A Napa jury found Creech guilty last may of felony assault with a firearm, four counts of shooting into an inhabited dwelling, two counts of child endangerment and five special allegations of use of a firearm.

On Sept. 14, 2007, following an argument between Creech and his wife, Reanna, she took their 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son and drove from Modesto to her father’s home on Dry Creek Road.

When she arrived, Creech was waiting for her at the gate leading into the property. Deputies were called and told Creech to leave, which he did. The deputies had also told him not to return to the property.

Creech returned the next day, however, armed with a shotgun. At that time, his wife, children, Reanna’s step-mother and step-sister were inside the house.

The couple’s 4-year-old had gone into the bedroom when her mother heard a loud bang coming from the room.

At trial, Reanna said she saw Creech with a shotgun at a window next to the front door. She shouted a warning to the rest of the house. She said she dragged her son to the floor and eventually took refuge in a bathroom with a high window.

Investigators said one of adult females inside the home ran to lock the front door as Creech was approaching. Just as she locked the door, Creech fired another gunshot blast at the front door. The woman called 911. No one was injured.

Creech fled the scene. Detectives traced him to Newark, the South Bay city where his parents live. When they arrived at his parents’ home, they were told Creech had swallowed a bottle of pills in an attempt to commit suicide. He was taken to a local hospital.

After Creech was medically cleared, he was arrested, taken into custody by Napa County Sheriff’s deputies, returned to Napa County and booked into the county jail.

Napa County Superior Court Judge Diane Price said the victims — Creech’s wife, Reanna, their children, Reanna’s stepsister and stepmother, were exceptionally vulnerable, according to Haley.

When Creech began shooting into the residence, “they had no place to go. They were trapped,” Haley said.

The crime took planning and was done with sophistication, Haley said. “He purchased a shotgun, drove from the family home in Modesto to Napa. He drove over two hours. He had a map. After the shooting, he destroyed the weapon with a hacksaw he purchased. He rented the vehicle he drove to Napa.”