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UPDATE: Shootings Continue in Malibu Canyon Keeping Law Enforcement Busy

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.

Message from a resident in Monte Nido regarding last night’s reports of a shots fired.

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.

 

Local and national media subsequently interviewed Tatangelo and James Rogers, as well as myself, who provided additional information regarding other incidents which included the car of a 17 year old female who was driving over Malibu Canyon to a surf contest in the early morning hours of June 6th 2017 when her car was riddled with bullets.
Vehicle driven by a 17 year old girl driving over Malibu Canyon in the early morning hours in June 2016 riddled with bullets holes.

What We Know Now:

The following shootings are being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department:
November 3 and 9, 2016
January 7, June 6, July 22, July 30, 2017
and most recently on June 18.
Incidents include James Rogers who was shot inside Malibu Creek State Park in 2016, and Melissa Tatangelo whose car was hit by a bullet while she was camping there with her boyfriend in January 2017.
The Local also received word of two other shootings occurring approximately 4-5 months ago from a source who was inside State Parks. We are investigating information we have received regarding those incidents.
LASD scheduled a flyer handout on June 29th around the area of the shootings and promptly cancelled. Reason unknown.
Since the murder, LASD and State Parks have been extremely tight lipped regarding these investigations, only releasing minimal information citing they believed the incidents were “unrelated”.
Both departments faced sharp criticism and backlash from the public for not informing citizens of the shootings in the area as a public safety precaution.
The coroner’s report of Beaudette’s murder has been sealed at the request of homicide detectives and my sources tell me one of the reasons could be because the caliber of bullet used.
A first report was released by LASD and was available to the press,  a supplemental and/or second report was completed and is sealed.
Sources tell us the only known bullet wound to Beaudette was the fatal shot to the head, and that it could’ve been from a shotgun, potentially a longer range than investigators first thought because depending upon the size of the pellets in the shot gun, there could’ve been as many as 12 pallets size 32 caliber.

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.

 

 

The Current Report Editor in Chief Cece Woods started The Local Malibu, an activism based platform in 2014. The publication was instrumental in the success of pro-preservation ballot measures and seating five top vote-getters in the Malibu City Council elections.

During the summer of 2018, Woods exposed the two-year law enforcement cover-up in the Malibu Creek State Park Shootings, and a few short months later provided the most comprehensive local news coverage during the Woolsey Fire attracting over one million hits across her social media platforms.

Since 2020, Woods was the only journalist reporting on the on-going public corruption involving former L.A. Metro CEO Phil Washington. Woods worked with Political Corruption expert Adam Loew, DC Watchdog organizations and leaders in the Capitol exposing Washington which ultimately led to the withdrawal of his nomination to head the FAA.

Woods also founded Malibu based 90265 Magazine and Cali Mag devoted to the authentic southern California lifestyle.

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