Multiple reports of gunshots and a suspicious fire have continued to plague the area near Malibu Creek State Park and the Hindu Temple on Malibu Canyon/Las Virgenes Road.
At approximately 11 p.m. last night, July 12th, shots were reported on Malibu Canyon at Piuma prompting law enforcement to shut down Malibu Canyon and search the area with ground and air support.
Also, in the early morning hours of Monday morning at approximately 1 a.m., shots were reported by residents in the area behind the Hindu Temple on Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road and a fire was reported in the early hours of July 7th in the same area.
The Malibu Canyon shootings gained national attention at the end of June when Irvine resident Tristan Beaudette was found murdered in his tent on Friday June 22nd at Malibu Creek State Park. Beaudette, who was camping with his two young daughters, was shot in the head at approximately 4:44 a.m. First responders arrived on scene and found multiple shots to the tent and, while Beaudette’s daughters were unharmed, they were covered in a substantial amount of blood prompting emergency personnel to check them thoroughly for bullet wounds.
Once the report of Beaudette’s murder hit the news channels, The Local received messages on our social media regarding at least one recent shooting only 4 days before the murder, and reports of multiple shootings over a two year period directly from victims who decided to come forward after hearing about the murder and seeing our posts.
On June 23rd, Melissa Tatangelo posted this on The Local Facebook page after seeing our report on the Tesla struck on Monday, June 18th.
What We Know Now:
The physical investigation is still ongoing and active.
Some serious points and been brought up as to the number of issues affecting the investigations into these shootings including a number of different agencies overlapping in the same area, and with so many different entities involved, it’s easy to have evidence destroyed and or potentially tampered with.
Malibu Creek State Park is closed to campers indefinitely and sources tell us law enforcement is planning additional sweeps for evidence.
We have also been informed that homicide detectives are working on a new date/dates to hand out flyers Piuma and Malibu Canyon Rd. with talks of additional canvasing of the Monte Nido area in in Malibu Canyon.
A severe manpower shortage has decreased availability to get officers out into the field which means that this case (or cases) should take a lot longer to solve.
The shooter or shooters have stepped up their activities and time slots to commit the crimes which means that Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road is a dangerous stretch to drive after sundown.
What was a window of 3-7 a.m. for previous shootings has now expanded to 11 p.m. to sunrise.
Whether or not the shootings are related, they are still actively occurring. Use extreme precaution when traveling through the area.
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