Two dramatic law enforcement incidents took place on Malibu beaches this week, drawing speculation from spectators and social media users intrigued by images of ballistic shields and circling helicopters.
The first took place on Wednesday, July 12, when a call came in to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station that a man on Surfrider beach was armed, possibly with a gun. When law enforcement officials arrived, fully armed with rifles and shields, they determined the suspect did not have a firearm.
“At one point during the incident, the person had a knife,” Lt. Jim Royal explained in an email to The Malibu Times. “The incident is still [being] investigated.”
According to the investigation, the suspect, who was taken into law enforcement custody, may have been despondent and was possibly intending to harm himself with the knife, Royal said.
The incident took place in the mid-afternoon when the beach was packed with surfers enjoying the best swells of the year, thanks to Tropical Cyclone Eugene. In addition to the witnesses on the beach, many driving along Pacific Coast Highway near the Malibu Pier were aware of law enforcement activity on the beach, which caused heavy traffic delays. The traffic delays prompted city and sheriff’s station alerts to be sent out.
One of the surfers on the beach was photographer Ben Thomson, who witnessed the event and snapped photos of sheriff’s deputies on the beach that day. In a description posted on social media, Thomson said “the sheriff’s came fully equipped and took him down without an incident.”
The second call came in Saturday, July 15, and was a response to a domestic battery call.
On Saturday, a female caller who lives north of PCH near Broad Beach in Malibu informed the sheriff’s department that a person she knew — possibly an ex-boyfriend — shot a bullet into a hillside in her presence on Friday, though she didn’t call at the time, she said, out of fear of retaliation.
When the suspect returned on Saturday, she placed the call to the Lost Hills Station.
Sheriff’s deputies located the man walking on Broad Beach Road.
“He did not have a weapon at the time he was located, and denied discharging the weapon the day before,” Royal described. “No evidence of the shooting was found, such as shell casings or witnesses. No weapon was found.”
The caller also alleged the suspect had hit her during the incident on Friday. The suspect was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and domestic battery, Royal described. The District Attorney declined to file charges due to lack of evidence.
Neighbors speaking on forums like NextDoor described sheriff’s deputies with rifles walking along the road and a helicopter circling overhead for “about an hour.”
