[Update, April 14:] The sheriff’s department confirmed on Wednesday a male suspect in his early 30s was arrested at Zuma Beach on Sunday after he was found to be carrying a rifle and several hundred rounds of ammunition under his trench coat, with “other loaded handguns on his person, and then some other loaded shotguns in his vehicle,” according to LASD Lt. Jim Braden, the Malibu liaison to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station.
The man, who remained in law enforcement custody, was reported by a resident who said he was harassing her on the beach and attempting to get her into his van. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, Braden said, they located the man sitting in a van parked along the roadway, at which point they engaged him in conversation.
“When he got out of the van, deputies could see he had a rifle strapped underneath his coat—a loaded rifle,” Braden described.
The man was arrested on multiple weapons charges and an investigation is still underway. According to Braden, the LASD is leading the investigation although the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) have been notified.
Braden pointed out that, although it was not known if the man was unhoused or transient, he did not recognize the vehicle from seeing it parked along the highway before.
The lieutenant also urged residents who witness “someone acting suspicious or strange” to call the department.
“Who knows what she prevented,” Braden said.
[April 13:] A man armed with at least one firearm was arrested at Zuma Beach on Sunday, April 11.
Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Watch Commander Sergeant Miller confirmed the arrest to The Malibu Times on Tuesday, April 13, but was not able to provide further details about the incident; other phone calls to the station went unanswered Tuesday.
On Monday evening, a Malibu resident posted on social media that the man, who had been wearing a heavy trench coat, had been following her at the beach and making lewd comments, attempting to convince her to get into his van parked near the beach. She called the sheriff’s department to report his aggressive behavior, the resident wrote in the post, which she later shared with The Malibu Times.
“Within 15 minutes, three SUVs arrived and surrounded the suspect. A deputy called me today and informed me that this man had been carrying loaded weapons with additional rounds of ammunition under his trench coat and they also discovered he had rifles and several more rounds of ammunition in his van,” she wrote.
In a later conversation with The Malibu Times, the resident described the man as being in his early 30s with dirty blond hair and wearing sunglasses.
“I assumed initially he was homeless and had layered all his clothing, because it was bulky under his trench coat. I didn’t know it was because he was carrying all of these weapons,” she said, adding that the man had been “Walking kind of strange … his arms were straight out like he was trying to hold something in.”
This is a developing story.