Frustration .. and not much information … in Malibu Canyon.
Not many details were released yesterday … on this summer’s murder in Malibu Canyon .. and other shootings reported there before or since.
Officials from five police agencies that patrol Malibu Canyon were on a stage … several hundred people politely listened …. in the heart of the Santa Moncia Mountains yesterday.
It was a meeting to share information on the murder of a tourist last June 22 …
Detectives yesterday said they do not have solid theory as to what happened in the canyon… when 35-year-old Tristan Beaudette was killed inside his tent … his two little girls at his side.
Detectives revealed they had been aware of … and had investigated … the string of shootings that had ended 8 months earlier ….
And the shotgun blast that hit a car in Malibu Canyon one week before the camper was killed in his tent.
Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Winton stood up at the meeting … and asked homicide Lieutenant Rodney Moore the basic questions.
MURDER SESSION AAA :84 QQQ: IF IT IS TARGETED OR RANDOM.
WINTON: “Okay I’ll just get straight to the point.
“There have been a number of shootings here, but wouldn’t be more helpful to desceibe if any be more helpful to describe if any of the shootings were actually of the same caliber as the Tristan Beaudette shooting?
“Some of these obviously involved a shotgun, because of the pellets, and some of them obviously involved something else.
“So, can you answer directly, are any of these prior shootings, which actual shots were fired, of a similar caliber?
“And secondly, can you describe where any of the shootings were??
“Do you believe the Beaudette shooting was targeted or random, that’s a fairly standard question to answer, based on what you know at this point?
MOORE: “ Based on the outgoing investigation, those prior shootings … which James talked about earlier … that we don’t have any independent knowledge or any independent information that indicates those prior shootings are relate to Mister Beaudette’s homicide..
“However, we are investigating all of those under the umbrella that there’s a possibility.
“We are not going to release any specifics related to those shootings, which includes caliber of weaponry that was used.
“That could jeopardize the investigation of Mister Beaudette.
…[END QUOTE]
The lead homicide detective … Rodney Moore … says they “are not releasing any specific information related to if it is targeted or random.”
He said he’s been working the case since June 22nd and Saturrday was his first day off.
Residents in upper Malibu Canyon are worried.
Since the June 22 murder, there have been nine reports of gunfire in Malibu Canyon.
Sheriff’s lieutenant Jim Royal says … they are all being investigated,
MURDER SESSION ROYAL :25 QQQ TRANSFORMER THAT WAS EXPLODED
“We’ve had nine reports of shots fired.
“and I want to make a very important distinction on this matter.
“These are exactly what I am referring to them as.
“They are reports of shots fired only.
“They are not necessarily related … however they may be.
And in at least two of the cases … one was determined to be a backfire and one was determined to be a transformer that exploded.”
And a third was an car’s window that apparently exploded … shattered in the heat … no gun projectile that was found.
State senator Henry Stern pressed … has there been additional gunshots fired in Malibu Canyon since the June murder????
MURDER STERN CCCCC :50 QQQ ILL LEAVE IT AT THAT,
STERN: “We have a very specific question about distinguishing between types of shooting incidents. So…
“I know you mentioned a backfire, which actually is not a shooting incident.
“But then Airsoft, paintballs, real bullets, bullets being found.
“Are you able to share any information in terms of distinguishing between the types of gunshots or ammunition involved ???”
ROYAL: “No details, but the list that I gave you that are not determined to be, that are not referenced as shots-fired only calls, which are somebody literally calling and saying ‘I think I heard a gunshot.’…
“So the first several that I listed …. Tapia Park … Malibu Creek and Malibu Canyon … are confirmed shootings.
“I will leave it at that.”
And with that … the sheriff’s lieutenant clearly implies only the three shooting reports have been confirmed are the actual shootings .. one shooting of a man in hammock … in Tapia Park in 2017.
The vehicle that was hit by shotgun pellets in mid June of this year.
And then … the murder of Tristan Beaudette on June 22nd.
Nine reports of witnessed shootings … peopke who have heard gunshots … have been phoned in since that murder.
Three of those … confirmed to be non-shootings.
The other six … the sheriff’s office says … are not on the list as confirmed shootings.
State Senator Henry Stern announced that an interagency task force has now been set up to handle previous and any future reports of shootings.
The five police agencies that overlap jurisdiction in Malibu Canyon will now meet regularly in a task force headed by sheriff’s homicide detectives.
The reaction of many Malibu Canyon residents afterwards???
Fear and uncertainty.
——
And many residents from Malibu … who had travelled up to the law enforcement meeting … had a different public safety issue on their minds.
Camping … the proposed campground in Puerco Canyon.
There was a pile of questions on that from the public … but the state senator did not read those questions.
Malibu city councilwoman Laura Rosenthal … however … did bring it up.
MURDER ROSENTHAL 222 CAMPGROUNDS WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN IN NEW CAMPGROUNDS
“My question was, and this is of great concern to my constituents, especially in Malibu, with additional development in the Santa Monica Mountains, especially let’s say in Puerco Canyon, where MRCA is looking to do new campgrounds, and those kinds of things, there’s a lot of concern over the safety.
“If these things are going on in other campgrounds, what’s going to happen in new campgrounds?”
If Malibu residents were looking for any kind of anti-new campground statement from the state senator … Henry Stern … that’s not what they got.
PUERCO STERN QQQQ THROUGH THESE COMMUNITIES.
“It is unacceptable, frankly, for at least the state of California, to be going out and acquiring more and more land, without the resources necessary to operate and maintain that land.
“We see that in Malibu, we see that through these communities.”
State senator Henry Stern … not opposing the Puerco Canyon campground.