CA - Malibu Creek State Park Shooting, Tristan Beaudette, 35, 22 June 2018 *Arrest*

[Harmony 2]

@Hatfield excellent post!

 

[Confusion]

The thing that keeps me wondering if they are all related is the fact that nobody seems to have seen or heard anything other than the shots in any of the cases (unless I missed something with some of them). The person has to be comfortable walking/sneaking around in the dark, and probably spends quite a bit of time there to know where to be so he's unlikely to be seen if someone shines a flashlight around, where to go without tripping over tree roots, etc. in his path, how to get out of the area without being seen (and probably avoiding any gates), and other things someone less familiar with the area would have problems with. The other thing that seems to connect them (in my mind) is that the person seems to take one shot and leave, which leads me to believe that it's more for the action than for the results that it's being done. If it ends up that there was more than one shot fired at TB, then I'd be less inclined to believe his death was related to the others. MOO based on my lousy memory.

 

[RickshawFan]

Many tent sites are so small so I understand why they had two. RV and yurt sites are much bigger.

That can be true in some places, but if you check the campground map and the photos I posted, the sites are spacious. In fact, a photo shows one of the two sites with 3 (IIRC) 2-person tents and a cabin tent. And there’s all kinds of extra room.

I wonder if the two BILs were expecting more people to join them, and they didn’t show? That could be interesting.

 

[T_mar]

That can be true in some places, but if you check the campground map and the photos I posted, the sites are spacious. In fact, a photo shows one of the two sites with 3 (IIRC) 2-person tents and a cabin tent. And there’s all kinds of extra room.

I wonder if the two BILs were expecting more people to join them, and they didn’t show? That could be interesting.

Or possibly they wanted more space between them and other campers? I know some people that book their campsites that way so that it’s more private.

 

[RickshawFan]

I disagree with the conclusion that the hammock guy was shot deliberately.

You can’t see one of those hammocks in the dark, that’s kinda the point. And who would even know that a lone biologist was stealth camping in the woods?

I once headed up a trail to a privy. Unbeknownst to me, there were about 5 hammocks slung on the privy trail. Thoughtless. I didn’t see them at all. I did, however, trip over a guy which I could never have anticipated or seen.

That the biologist got hit near his head protected by his arm may be entirely fortuitous. Or maybe that part of him moved. Or made a noise.

People get jittery in the dark. They think they see animals, and it freaks them out. And this guy happened to have a gun.

Someone could easily have mistaken him for an animal. Camping hammocks are slung at big-animal height, and the quality ones are designed to blend in to the woods.

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

I wonder if the two BILs were expecting more people to join them, and they didn’t show? That could be interesting.

Someone earlier commented that there were four chairs set up outside TB's tent. The fourth was probably for the wife and they brought it along just didn't use it. It's possible that both of them were originally planning on going so they got two spaces instead of one.

What seems odd to me is that papers make it sound like they went camping BECAUSE Mom was studying for an exam. The truth from TB's brother seems to be that she couldn't make it because of the exam which implied that the trip was already planned.

 

[emmet]

Would someone please explain the "two BIL" matter. Which? Whose? Why?

 

[avalonisland]

JMO
The last common thing that tells me at least some are connected is I believe in 3 of the shootings the shooter was trying to do serious harm. The hammock guy said he slept with his arm over his head and he said if not for that it would have been much worse. Im reading between the lines here but this tells me he almost got shot in the head but his arm stopped the pellets. In the lady's shooting of her car while she slept and her car got hit with a slug and she said herself that if it would have been a little bit over it would have been much worse for her. So I think in that case the shooter was trying to do serious harm to her. And of course in the tent shooting there is a dead victim.
So this is just another common thing to me that person is trying to harm in at least 3 cases and maybe more.

So the bottom line is I think at least some are connected.

For reference this is what hammock guy said when talking about the incident where he got shot with pellets in his arm.

"“I sleep with my arm up by my head, and I suspect I was shot at close range,” he said."

Malibu campground where father fatally shot is closed down as safety precaution

All JMO of course. Sorry so long on this post.

IMO, Hammock guy may have been accidentally shot by a skilled or unskilled bird hunter who was simply targeting a bird (possibly without a permit) with a shotgun loaded with bird pellets used to shoot birds in an area and/or time that was not known to have people present :
"...A young man hiking the Backbone Trail and sleeping overnight in a hammock in Tapia Park, just south of Malibu Creek State Park, was struck by birdshot from a shotgun on Nov. 3, 2016....Rogers said there has been no headway in the investigation of his shooting. He said he was not sleeping in a formal campground and was about 200 yards from Malibu Canyon Road when he was shot in his right arm."
Even more shootings uncovered at Malibu park before father was killed while camping

 

[gitana1]

The thing that keeps me wondering if they are all related is the fact that nobody seems to have seen or heard anything other than the shots in any of the cases (unless I missed something with some of them). The person has to be comfortable walking/sneaking around in the dark, and probably spends quite a bit of time there to know where to be so he's unlikely to be seen if someone shines a flashlight around, where to go without tripping over tree roots, etc. in his path, how to get out of the area without being seen (and probably avoiding any gates), and other things someone less familiar with the area would have problems with. The other thing that seems to connect them (in my mind) is that the person seems to take one shot and leave, which leads me to believe that it's more for the action than for the results that it's being done. If it ends up that there was more than one shot fired at TB, then I'd be less inclined to believe his death was related to the others. MOO based on my lousy memory.

That's interesting. I would never think of that- that the number of shots could indicate profile.

Smart.

 

[gitana1]

I know Radar Online can be shady in their reporting, but the following are quotes I cannot seem to reconcile:

“Based on my conversation with my brother-in-law, who was there, who found him, and who was awake shortly after the gunshots went off, there were no sounds nearby,” DB, 37

“There were shots in the distance, a bullet went through the top in the tent, and a bullet went into [Tristan]. And that means that someone was firing horizontal from nearby. ”

Distant vs. Nearby?
And...his BROTHER-IN-LAW was there? I missed this until now. Was that why there were two tents and two camp spaces (49 and 51)?

<modsnipped-changed name to initials>

See I thought the phrase that there were no sounds nearby meant that after the shooting there was no sound to be heard. Like no one fleeing.

 

[OnYourLeft]

I disagree with the conclusion that the hammock guy was shot deliberately.

You can’t see one of those hammocks in the dark, that’s kinda the point. And who would even know that a lone biologist was stealth camping in the woods?

I once headed up a trail to a privy. Unbeknownst to me, there were about 5 hammocks slung on the privy trail. Thoughtless. I didn’t see them at all. I did, however, trip over a guy which I could never have anticipated or seen.

That the biologist got hit near his head protected by his arm may be entirely fortuitous. Or maybe that part of him moved. Or made a noise.

People get jittery in the dark. They think they see animals, and it freaks them out. And this guy happened to have a gun.

Someone could easily have mistaken him for an animal. Camping hammocks are slung at big-animal height, and the quality ones are designed to blend in to the woods.

IMO, Hammock guy may have been accidentally shot by a skilled or unskilled bird hunter who was simply targeting a bird (possibly without a permit) with a shotgun loaded with bird pellets used to shoot birds in an area and/or time that was not known to have people present :
"...A young man hiking the Backbone Trail and sleeping overnight in a hammock in Tapia Park, just south of Malibu Creek State Park, was struck by birdshot from a shotgun on Nov. 3, 2016....Rogers said there has been no headway in the investigation of his shooting. He said he was not sleeping in a formal campground and was about 200 yards from Malibu Canyon Road when he was shot in his right arm."
Even more shootings uncovered at Malibu park before father was killed while camping

In this later interview, James Rogers, biologist - 11/3/2016 shooting - goes even more in depth indicating he was “trying to take his earphones out, I felt just kind of a stinging sensation”. So RickshawFan, you may be onto something with your theory of his sudden movement.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/losang...d-shootings-calabasas-park-father-killed/amp/

 

[UltraViolet4545]

I wonder what time the hammock sleeper set his hammock up? I would assume he would get his spot set up while still light out. Perhaps the shooter saw him and then came back later in the dark to shoot at him? I also wonder if he saw anyone else once he had set his hammock up that day. I.e. Did he see any hikers walk by, or was he in a very remote spot and never saw another person?

 

[UltraViolet4545]

And one other thought that just came to me— perhaps people aren’t hearing “gunshots” because there was only one shot?

If you are sound asleep and one single gunshot is fired, the noise may wake you up, but how would you know it was a gun shot since you weren’t “consciously awake” at the moment it sounded to be able to recognize it as such? The woman who was sleeping in her car is what made me think of this. She said she woke up due to a “loud noise,” but was disoriented/thought she was dreaming and went back to bed when she didn’t hear anything else. She heard the bang, but was asleep at the exact moment t went off so she did not recognize it as a gun.

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

I wonder what time the hammock sleeper set his hammock up?

<modsnip> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I had always thought this happened in broad daylight.

<no MSM link to back up statement>

 

[gitana1]

I wish that headline was accurate. My gut is telling me that the prior shootings are unrelated and I have a hard time reading all the posts that discuss those shootings in detail. But maybe my gut is wrong.

Hmm. I have vibes but no gut. Wish I did.

For me, I first considered accidental shooting by some idiot until I looked at where it was. No hunting nearby.

An argument with another camper also seemed like a possibility. Still could be. We don't know what LE has been told.

The logistics of a pre-planned, targeted attack just seem implausible to me. The kids present. Knowing he was there and where and finding him in the dark and no one hearing anything before or after, profiles of targeted attacks (location, timing, style) etc. Etc.

Then hearing about all these random, weird shootings. Certainly has me leaning that way.

But I don't have a gut feeling about this at all. And gut instinct can be powerful.

It's a scary and horrible case. We haven't really talked about those babies in the tent with daddy. They were there when their beloved father and protector's brains were blown out. Imagine that. They could have been covered in blood spray. Or whatever. Just babies.

Ugh.

Regardless of why and how it's just really terrible.

 

[Confusion]

The fact is that someone has been out there shooting at, or near, people and one is dead. Whether it's one shooter or 7, he/she/they need to be put away. MOO

 

[emmet]

The fact is that someone has been out there shooting at, or near, people and one is dead. Whether it's one shooter or 7, he/she/they need to be put away. MOO

I think we are all in agreement.

 

[gitana1]

IMO, Hammock guy may have been accidentally shot by a skilled or unskilled bird hunter who was simply targeting a bird (possibly without a permit) with a shotgun loaded with bird pellets used to shoot birds in an area and/or time that was not known to have people present :
"...A young man hiking the Backbone Trail and sleeping overnight in a hammock in Tapia Park, just south of Malibu Creek State Park, was struck by birdshot from a shotgun on Nov. 3, 2016....Rogers said there has been no headway in the investigation of his shooting. He said he was not sleeping in a formal campground and was about 200 yards from Malibu Canyon Road when he was shot in his right arm."
Even more shootings uncovered at Malibu park before father was killed while camping

Do people hunt birds in the dark though? I don't know how that works. I mean I think people might start getting where they want to be at that's time but how could you see a bird?

But there's no hunting there. Not anywhere near there.

There are rangers though and campers. People who would hear if someone is letting off guns by the road.

The biologist says he was 200 yards from the road when hit. Do people typically hunt near roads with traffic?

If this was hunting country or even if I could find one report indicating there's ever been poaching around there, I would totally think that could be a hunting accident.

As it stands, what are we up to, 7 additional "random" shootings in the area? Three shootings altogether of or toward sleeping people in pre-dawn hours.

 

[emmet]

Okay I've finally caught up, lessons learned here, we may not be able to sleuth the case proper but we ought to be able to sleuth the sources we quote; and we need to link sources, once checked, whenever possible. It's easier to read down, and not back up.

All make for lots smoother, more informed, reading.

 

[emmet]

Post #1000, I wonder if this case will continue at this rate, under a week to get here, or will drag on unsolved, and eventually fade from sight.

Either way sad, sad.