California campsite's disturbing history of shootings

  • 30/06/2018

A popular California campsite remains a crime scene a week after a father was fatally shot in his tent.

Police are now investigating whether it was linked to a long series of unsolved shootings.

Tristan Beaudette was shot in the head at the Malibu Creek State Park while he was camping with his two young daughters.

He isn't the only victim. US media reports there have been seven other shooting incidents in the Malibu Creek State Park area over the past two years.

"There were a number of incidents but they were over an extended period of time. The pattern at this point certainly is not clear, if there is one at all," county Sheriff Jim McDonnell told media this week.

CBS News spoke to another person who was shot. James Rogers was attacked at the campsite in 2016, and woke to a stinging pain in his arm.

"I tried to get up and just fell right through the hammock down to the ground," Mr Rogers says.

He didn't know what happened until the pellets started falling out of his arm.

Mary Ellen O'Toole, director of the Forensic Science Program at George Mason University, says detectives will be examining the crime scene for evidence that might bring the killer to justice.

"They'll be attempting to see what type of weapon was used in the shooting and then if that weapon was somehow connected to other shootings, especially ones that took place in that park," Ms O'Toole told CBS News.

Newshub.