LOS ANGELES — In the scenic hills of southern California’s Malibu coast, a popular campsite remains a crime scene a week after a father was fatally shot. Police are now investigating whether it’s linked to a string of unsolved shootings.
Access to the crime scene is blocked and investigators aren’t talking, even after eight shootings in and around Malibu Creek State Park over the last two years.
On Friday, detectives were back, looking for evidence at the camp site where Tristan Beaudette was shot and killed while he was sleeping in a tent with his two daughters, ages 2 and 4.
Tristan Beaudette
Now, other victims are speaking out, including James Rogers, who says he was hit while sleeping at a campsite.
“I tried to get up and just fell right through the hammock down to the ground,” Rogers said.
A couple months later, Meliss Tatangelo had a similar experience while camping in her SUV.
“My boyfriend walked around and he was like, that’s a bullet hole and I was like, ok it is, right,” she said.
The owner of a Tesla said a bullet struck his car, just four days before Beaudette was killed.
The sheriff’s department has not responded to repeated requests for an interview, but on Friday, released a statement saying “a link between the past shootings and the murder will be explored.”
There are posted warnings at the site for everything from rattlesnakes to poison oak, but nothing about the shootings. The campground is closed indefinitely, but the park is still open. Beyond the lack of warnings, there’s frustration among the shooting victims CBS News spoke with, who feel their initial reports were not taken seriously.
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