The alleged Malibu Creek State Park shooter, Anthony Rauda, has entered a not guilty plea in response to a 16-count indictment against him including murder, attempted murder and burglary.
The murder victim, Amgen research scientist Tristan Thomas Beaudette, was shot while sleeping in a tent in Malibu Creek State Park alongside his two young daughters, then two and four years old, who both escaped injury.
The shooting of Beaudette in the early morning hours of June 22, 2018, was one of a number of shooting incidents that had been reported from 2016 on, although at first it was not clear that these earlier incidents were related to the death of Beaudette.
Rauda, who again made headlines earlier this year when he was brought into court in a chair in which he had been restrained, pleaded not guilty to the 16-count indictment. The indictment included the murder of Beaudette, along with 10 attempted murders—including the attempted murder of the two daughters, plus a number of shooting incidents and burglary incidents in the two years prior to the murder.
After Beaudette’s murder, Malibu Creek State Park’s campground was closed for months and there was a massive manhunt to try and find a rifle-carrying man whom officials believed had shot at people and cars previously, and who had been picked up on a video burglarizing some local businesses in the area. Investigators found some fresh boot prints in the area and were able to track Rauda, and he was arrested in a ravine close to Mulholland Highway and west of Las Virgenes Road. He was allegedly carrying a rifle when caught.Â
If convicted, Rauda could face life in prison.
Beaudette’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against LA County, charging that the LA County Sheriff’s Department had failed to warn the public of the earlier shootings in the campground vicinity and adjacent road. In another lawsuit against the county and department by LA County Sheriff’s Lieutenant James Royal, the former Malibu liaison claimed he had wanted to advise the public of the danger, even before Beaudette was killed, but had been prevented from doing so by higher-ups in the sheriff’s department. Later, he charged in his lawsuit that he was retaliated against by the department, transferred out of the local station and demoted.
The case is being heard in the courtroom of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo and is due back in the courtroom on Dec. 5.Â
