Newhall Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Newhall massacre or Newhall Incident was a shootout
between two heavily armed criminals and officers
of the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) in the Newhall unincorporated area
of Los Angeles County
, California
on April 6, 1970. In less than 5 minutes, four CHP officers were killed in what was at the time the deadliest day in the history of California law enforcement.
At approximately 11:55 p.m. (UTC-8
), CHP officers Walt Frago and Roger Gore initiated a traffic stop of Bobby Davis and Jack Twinning in conjunction with an incident involving the pair that had been reported to the CHP earlier in the day. After stopping in a restaurant parking lot and initially cooperating with the officers, Twinning and Davis opened fire and killed both officers. Minutes later, Officers George Alleyn and James Pence arrived on the scene and engaged Twinning and Davis in a shootout. A passerby picked up one of the officers' weapons and opened fire on the perpetrators; however, the three were outgunned and both Alleyn and Pence suffered fatal injuries while the passerby ran out of ammunition and took cover in a ditch. A third CHP patrol car
arrived on the scene and the officer inside briefly exchanged gunfire with the perpetrators, but they were able to flee the scene.
Over three hours later, Davis stole
a vehicle after exchanging gunfire with its owner. He attempted to flee the area; however, he was spotted by police and arrested. Meanwhile, Twinning broke into a house and took one of its occupants hostage. The house was surrounded by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
and at approximately 9:00 a.m., he released the hostage and committed suicide when the deputies entered the house. Davis was sentenced to death
but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole
in 1973. He killed himself at Kern Valley State Prison
in 2009.
The Newhall massacre resulted in a number of changes at the CHP, including procedural changes in arresting high risk suspects and standardization of firearms and firearms training used across the department.
in which he killed another prisoner in self-defense. He had been released from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida
11 months prior to the shootings. Davis had been released from prison 8 months prior to the shootings and was serving parole
time in Houston, Texas
. Twinning and Davis met and became friends while in prison.
, where they failed in their attempt to rob banks
. They then drove down to Los Angeles
in a red 1964 Pontiac
. En route to Los Angeles, they noticed construction along the highway in the mountainous area near Gorman
and believed they could steal explosives from that site in order to commit a robbery
.
Twinning and Davis rented an apartment in Long Beach
. Soon after, they began observing an armored car
delivering cash to Santa Anita Park
. They devised a scheme to use explosives in order to rob it on a freeway offramp, and returned to the construction site to procure the explosives. Inside their red Pontiac, they had amassed numerous weapons, including handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Overall, they had twice as many weapons as the four CHP officers they would eventually face had in their two patrol cars.
), Davis was driving northbound on Interstate 5
south of Gorman when he made an illegal U-turn across the highway median, nearly colliding with a southbound vehicle being driven by Ivory Jack Tidwell, a military serviceman en route to Port Hueneme
with his wife in the passenger seat. Tidwell had a verbal argument with Davis and both stopped their vehicles, where Davis brandished a firearm; Tidwell managed to convince Davis that the CHP was in the area, which prompted Davis to drive away. The couple immediately drove to a phone and reported the incident complete with a description of Davis' vehicle to the CHP. Officers in the area were informed that the vehicle was wanted in connection with a misdemeanor, as the area – now a sprawling suburban area – was sparsely populated at the time, and hunting and shooting were allowed.
Several minutes later, CHP officers Walt Frago and Roger Gore, partners in the same patrol car
, spotted the red Pontiac near Castaic
and began following the vehicle. Officers James Pence and George Alleyn, partners in a second patrol car, waited in nearby Valencia ready to back up Frago and Gore. The suspect vehicle exited the freeway at Henry Mayo Drive, near the present-day site of Six Flags Magic Mountain
, and pulled into a restaurant parking lot. Frago and Gore ordered the two occupants to exit their vehicle. Obeying the officer's orders, Davis exited the driver's seat and walked to the front hood of the vehicle where Gore proceeded to search him. Meanwhile, Frago approached the other side of the car carrying a shotgun at "port arms" with the stock against his hip and the barrel pointed in the air.
As Frago walked to the Pontiac, Twinning exited the passenger seat and opened fire with a Smith & Wesson Model 28
revolver. Before Frago could aim his shotgun at Twinning, he was struck by two .357 Magnum
rounds and killed. Gore quickly drew his service revolver and returned fire at Twinning, but in doing so lost track of Davis, who was right next to him. While Twinning and Gore exchanged gunfire, Davis pulled a .38 Special
caliber Smith & Wesson
Model 49 revolver out of his waistband and killed Gore with two shots at point blank range.
Shortly after Gore was killed, Alleyn and Pence arrived on the scene. Davis and Twinning immediately opened fire on them with their revolvers, expending all their remaining rounds, and then dove back into their own car for new weapons. Davis pulled out a sawed-off shotgun, while Twining grabbed a semi-automatic Colt 1911 .45 ACP
caliber pistol. After firing one shot, Twinning's 1911 jammed, but he simply grabbed another one out of the car and exited out the driver's side. As they did this, officer Alleyn emptied his Remington 870
shotgun at the Pontiac, firing the gun so fast he accidentally ejected a live round in the process. A single pellet from the shotgun struck Twinning in the forehead, but it did not penetrate his skull and inflicted only a minor wound.
After expending all his shotgun rounds, Alleyn opened fire on Davis with his .357 Magnum revolver, but did not make any hits. Davis returned fire with his sawed-off shotgun, striking Alleyn with several rounds of 00 buckshot and inflicting fatal injuries.
, was en route to work when he happened upon the shootout. Kness got out of his vehicle and ran over to the fallen officer Alleyn. He tried to drag Alleyn to safety, but was unable to move him. He looked up and saw Davis discard his now-empty sawed-off shotgun and grab the Remington shotgun that had been dropped by Officer Frago. Apparently not realizing Frago had never fired the weapon, Davis tried to cycle the action of the shotgun, but since it had not been fired, it was locked on a live round. Eventually, he accidentally fired the gun into the air. Startled, he dropped the weapon and grabbed the service revolver out of Frago's holster.
Meanwhile on the other side of the cruiser, Pence fired all six rounds from his .357 Magnum revolver at Twinning, and missed. Twinning returned fire with his Colt 1911, striking Pence in the chest and in both legs. Pence fell to the ground, trying to reload. At the time, the CHP did not issue their officers speedloader
s, forcing Pence to reload one round at a time.
Back on the other side of the cruiser, Kness picked up Alleyn's discarded shotgun and tried to shoot at Davis, but the gun was empty. As Davis opened fire on him with Frago's revolver, Kness dropped the shotgun and returned fire with Alleyn's service revolver. His shots struck the Pontiac, and a fragment of one bullet lodged into Davis' chest. However, the shot did not incapacitate Davis, and Kness was soon out of ammunition.
While this was going on, the wounded Pence was still attempting to reload his revolver. As he did so, he failed to notice Twinning sneak up to the cruiser and around the left side. As he inserted the sixth cartridge and started to close the cylinder of his weapon, behind him, Twinning killed Pence with two shots to the head at point blank range.
Realizing his situation was now hopeless, Kness ran from the cars to cover in a nearby ditch. As he did, a third CHP cruiser arrived at the scene. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the two suspects fled the scene through the darkness in separate directions. Davis took Frago's revolver with him, while Twinning ran off with Pence's revolver and Frago's shotgun.
, Davis pistol whipped Schwartz with his empty revolver and stole the camper. Schwartz called the police and reported the theft.
Within hours the camper was spotted and pulled over by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
. Without any more loaded guns at his disposal, Davis surrendered.
.
For the next several hours, negotiators talked on the phone with Twinning, who openly bragged about how he took advantage of Frago's mistake when he saw the officer approach his car with the shotgun in an un-shootable position: "He got careless, so I wasted him."
By roughly 9:00 a.m., Twinning released his hostage from the house. After issuing a surrender ultimatum, police pumped tear gas into the house and stormed in. As police entered the residence, Twinning killed himself with Frago's shotgun.
for the murder
s of the four CHP officers. However, in 1973 Davis' sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole, due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
that invalidated all death sentences in the nation. Davis was found dead at the age of 67 in his maximum-security single cell at Kern Valley State Prison
of an apparent suicide
on August 16, 2009.
After the shootout, the circumstances of the event were scrutinized, causing the CHP and other police departments to re-examine their methods of training and tactics.
Overall, none of the four CHP officers who were killed had more than two years of experience on the job. Gore and Frago were both 23 years old, while Pence and Alleyn were both 24. The three officers who fired their handguns were using .357 Magnum
rounds, even though they had only been trained and certified with .38 Special
ammunition, which has less recoil. Soon after the shootout, the CHP standardized their ammunition on the .38 caliber round, ensuring all officers trained with the same ammunition they would use on duty. Lack of familiarity with their service shotguns was also cited as a problem during the shootout, as evidenced by Frago's mistake of approaching with the gun at "port arms" and Alleyn's error of ejecting a live round.
Another issue brought up by the Newhall massacre was the difficulty in reloading revolvers under fire without a speedloader
, something that may have cost Pence his life. Shortly afterward, the CHP became the first major state police department to approve and issue speedloaders.
The incident was later documented by firearms instructor Massad Ayoob
in his 1995 book The Ayoob Files: The Book. In addition to the other issues mentioned above, Ayoob brought up the issue of California's policy of strictly limiting the number of CCW
permits issued to private citizens. Ayoob claimed that if citizens such as Gary Kness had been able to intervene with their own weapons instead of relying on the dropped weapons of the fallen CHP officers, they might have made a far more positive impact.
In 2008, a stretch of Interstate 5
in Santa Clarita, California
was named after the four slain officers. Kness, then aged 69, attended the ceremony and was congratulated as a hero.
Shootout
A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements; it could also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs. A shootout in a military context A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups....
between two heavily armed criminals and officers
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
of the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and also acts as the state police....
(CHP) in the Newhall unincorporated area
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on April 6, 1970. In less than 5 minutes, four CHP officers were killed in what was at the time the deadliest day in the history of California law enforcement.
At approximately 11:55 p.m. (UTC-8
UTC-8
UTC−08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −08. This time is used in:-As standard time :*Canada**Northwest Territories***Tungsten and the associated Cantung Mine*Mexico...
), CHP officers Walt Frago and Roger Gore initiated a traffic stop of Bobby Davis and Jack Twinning in conjunction with an incident involving the pair that had been reported to the CHP earlier in the day. After stopping in a restaurant parking lot and initially cooperating with the officers, Twinning and Davis opened fire and killed both officers. Minutes later, Officers George Alleyn and James Pence arrived on the scene and engaged Twinning and Davis in a shootout. A passerby picked up one of the officers' weapons and opened fire on the perpetrators; however, the three were outgunned and both Alleyn and Pence suffered fatal injuries while the passerby ran out of ammunition and took cover in a ditch. A third CHP patrol car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
arrived on the scene and the officer inside briefly exchanged gunfire with the perpetrators, but they were able to flee the scene.
Over three hours later, Davis stole
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
a vehicle after exchanging gunfire with its owner. He attempted to flee the area; however, he was spotted by police and arrested. Meanwhile, Twinning broke into a house and took one of its occupants hostage. The house was surrounded by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
and at approximately 9:00 a.m., he released the hostage and committed suicide when the deputies entered the house. Davis was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in 1973. He killed himself at Kern Valley State Prison
Kern Valley State Prison
Kern Valley State Prison is in Delano, California and is adjacent to North Kern State Prison. Kern Valley is a Level IV Maximum Security institution. This prison houses 5,013 inmates with a design capacity of 2,448. Kern Valley opened in June 2005 and has an annual operating budget of .-External...
in 2009.
The Newhall massacre resulted in a number of changes at the CHP, including procedural changes in arresting high risk suspects and standardization of firearms and firearms training used across the department.
Victims
- Officer Walter C. Frago, 23, less than 2 years with the CHP
- Officer Roger D. Gore, 23, less than 2 years with the CHP
- Officer James E. Pence, 24, less than 2 years with the CHP
- Officer George M. Alleyn, 24, less than 2 years with the CHP
Perpetrators
Jack Twinning, age 35, and Bobby Augusta Davis, 27, were both career criminals with long histories of violent felonies and robberies. Twinning had been in and out of eight different federal prisons since age 16, including a 5-year stint at AlcatrazAlcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...
in which he killed another prisoner in self-defense. He had been released from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
11 months prior to the shootings. Davis had been released from prison 8 months prior to the shootings and was serving parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
time in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Twinning and Davis met and became friends while in prison.
Background
After failing to land jobs following their release from prison, Twinning and Davis met up again in Houston, and drove to Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, where they failed in their attempt to rob banks
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
. They then drove down to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in a red 1964 Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
. En route to Los Angeles, they noticed construction along the highway in the mountainous area near Gorman
Gorman, California
Gorman, California, is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County. As of 2005 it had just 15 homes and a few registered voters, but tens of thousands of motorists traveled through it daily on the Interstate 5 freeway....
and believed they could steal explosives from that site in order to commit a robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
.
Twinning and Davis rented an apartment in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. Soon after, they began observing an armored car
Armored car (valuables)
A common meaning of armored car is as an armored van or truck, used in transporting valuables, such as large quantities of money . The armored car is a multifunctional vehicle designed to protect and ensure the well being of the transported individuals and/or contents...
delivering cash to Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...
. They devised a scheme to use explosives in order to rob it on a freeway offramp, and returned to the construction site to procure the explosives. Inside their red Pontiac, they had amassed numerous weapons, including handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Overall, they had twice as many weapons as the four CHP officers they would eventually face had in their two patrol cars.
Shootout
On the evening of April 5, Davis dropped Twinning off in the mountains to steal the explosives. At approximately 11:20 p.m. (UTC-8UTC-8
UTC−08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −08. This time is used in:-As standard time :*Canada**Northwest Territories***Tungsten and the associated Cantung Mine*Mexico...
), Davis was driving northbound on Interstate 5
Interstate 5 in California
Interstate 5 is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. state of California. It begins at the Mexico – United States border at the San Ysidro crossing, goes north across the length of California and crosses into Oregon south of the Medford-Ashland metropolitan...
south of Gorman when he made an illegal U-turn across the highway median, nearly colliding with a southbound vehicle being driven by Ivory Jack Tidwell, a military serviceman en route to Port Hueneme
Port Hueneme, California
Port Hueneme is a small beach city in Ventura County, California surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Pacific Ocean. The name derives from the Spanish spelling of the Chumash wene me, meaning "Resting Place". The area was discovered by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in the mid 16th century...
with his wife in the passenger seat. Tidwell had a verbal argument with Davis and both stopped their vehicles, where Davis brandished a firearm; Tidwell managed to convince Davis that the CHP was in the area, which prompted Davis to drive away. The couple immediately drove to a phone and reported the incident complete with a description of Davis' vehicle to the CHP. Officers in the area were informed that the vehicle was wanted in connection with a misdemeanor, as the area – now a sprawling suburban area – was sparsely populated at the time, and hunting and shooting were allowed.
Several minutes later, CHP officers Walt Frago and Roger Gore, partners in the same patrol car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
, spotted the red Pontiac near Castaic
Castaic, California
Castaic, California, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, north of Santa Clarita and a few miles from Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. It is approximately 39 miles from the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center. As of the 2010...
and began following the vehicle. Officers James Pence and George Alleyn, partners in a second patrol car, waited in nearby Valencia ready to back up Frago and Gore. The suspect vehicle exited the freeway at Henry Mayo Drive, near the present-day site of Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain is a theme park located in Valencia, California north of Los Angeles. It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 30, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Newhall Land and Farming Company. In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title. In...
, and pulled into a restaurant parking lot. Frago and Gore ordered the two occupants to exit their vehicle. Obeying the officer's orders, Davis exited the driver's seat and walked to the front hood of the vehicle where Gore proceeded to search him. Meanwhile, Frago approached the other side of the car carrying a shotgun at "port arms" with the stock against his hip and the barrel pointed in the air.
As Frago walked to the Pontiac, Twinning exited the passenger seat and opened fire with a Smith & Wesson Model 28
Smith & Wesson Model 28
The Smith & Wesson Model 28, also known as the Highway Patrolman, is a revolver chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge, in production from 1954 to 1986. It is a budget version of the S&W Model 27.-Development:...
revolver. Before Frago could aim his shotgun at Twinning, he was struck by two .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
rounds and killed. Gore quickly drew his service revolver and returned fire at Twinning, but in doing so lost track of Davis, who was right next to him. While Twinning and Gore exchanged gunfire, Davis pulled a .38 Special
.38 Special
The .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
caliber Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
Model 49 revolver out of his waistband and killed Gore with two shots at point blank range.
Shortly after Gore was killed, Alleyn and Pence arrived on the scene. Davis and Twinning immediately opened fire on them with their revolvers, expending all their remaining rounds, and then dove back into their own car for new weapons. Davis pulled out a sawed-off shotgun, while Twining grabbed a semi-automatic Colt 1911 .45 ACP
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
caliber pistol. After firing one shot, Twinning's 1911 jammed, but he simply grabbed another one out of the car and exited out the driver's side. As they did this, officer Alleyn emptied his Remington 870
Remington 870
The Remington Model 870 is a U.S.-made pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, Inc. It is widely used by the public for sport shooting, hunting, and self-defense. It is also commonly used by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide.-Development:The Remington 870 was...
shotgun at the Pontiac, firing the gun so fast he accidentally ejected a live round in the process. A single pellet from the shotgun struck Twinning in the forehead, but it did not penetrate his skull and inflicted only a minor wound.
After expending all his shotgun rounds, Alleyn opened fire on Davis with his .357 Magnum revolver, but did not make any hits. Davis returned fire with his sawed-off shotgun, striking Alleyn with several rounds of 00 buckshot and inflicting fatal injuries.
Gary Kness
Gary Kness, 31, a former U.S. MarineUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, was en route to work when he happened upon the shootout. Kness got out of his vehicle and ran over to the fallen officer Alleyn. He tried to drag Alleyn to safety, but was unable to move him. He looked up and saw Davis discard his now-empty sawed-off shotgun and grab the Remington shotgun that had been dropped by Officer Frago. Apparently not realizing Frago had never fired the weapon, Davis tried to cycle the action of the shotgun, but since it had not been fired, it was locked on a live round. Eventually, he accidentally fired the gun into the air. Startled, he dropped the weapon and grabbed the service revolver out of Frago's holster.
Meanwhile on the other side of the cruiser, Pence fired all six rounds from his .357 Magnum revolver at Twinning, and missed. Twinning returned fire with his Colt 1911, striking Pence in the chest and in both legs. Pence fell to the ground, trying to reload. At the time, the CHP did not issue their officers speedloader
Speedloader
A speedloader is a device used for loading a firearm or firearm magazine that will run out of ammunition very quickly. Generally, speedloaders are used for loading all chambers of a revolver simultaneously, although speedloaders are also used for the loading of fixed tubular magazines of shotguns...
s, forcing Pence to reload one round at a time.
Back on the other side of the cruiser, Kness picked up Alleyn's discarded shotgun and tried to shoot at Davis, but the gun was empty. As Davis opened fire on him with Frago's revolver, Kness dropped the shotgun and returned fire with Alleyn's service revolver. His shots struck the Pontiac, and a fragment of one bullet lodged into Davis' chest. However, the shot did not incapacitate Davis, and Kness was soon out of ammunition.
While this was going on, the wounded Pence was still attempting to reload his revolver. As he did so, he failed to notice Twinning sneak up to the cruiser and around the left side. As he inserted the sixth cartridge and started to close the cylinder of his weapon, behind him, Twinning killed Pence with two shots to the head at point blank range.
Realizing his situation was now hopeless, Kness ran from the cars to cover in a nearby ditch. As he did, a third CHP cruiser arrived at the scene. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the two suspects fled the scene through the darkness in separate directions. Davis took Frago's revolver with him, while Twinning ran off with Pence's revolver and Frago's shotgun.
Davis is arrested
At 3:25 am Davis stumbled onto a camper parked near a dirt road. After exchanging gunfire with the owner, Daniel Schwartz, armed with a WWII surplus Enfield revolverEnfield revolver
Enfield Revolver is the name applied to two totally separate models of self-extracting British handgun designed and manufactured at the government-owned Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield; initially the .476 calibre Revolver Enfield Mk I/Mk II revolvers , and later the .38/200 calibre Enfield No...
, Davis pistol whipped Schwartz with his empty revolver and stole the camper. Schwartz called the police and reported the theft.
Within hours the camper was spotted and pulled over by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
. Without any more loaded guns at his disposal, Davis surrendered.
Death of Twinning
Three miles away from the scene of the shootout, Twinning broke into a house and took one of the occupants hostage. The occupant's wife and son managed to escape and called police, and soon the house was surrounded by officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's DepartmentLos Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
.
For the next several hours, negotiators talked on the phone with Twinning, who openly bragged about how he took advantage of Frago's mistake when he saw the officer approach his car with the shotgun in an un-shootable position: "He got careless, so I wasted him."
By roughly 9:00 a.m., Twinning released his hostage from the house. After issuing a surrender ultimatum, police pumped tear gas into the house and stormed in. As police entered the residence, Twinning killed himself with Frago's shotgun.
Aftermath
Davis was sentenced to deathCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s of the four CHP officers. However, in 1973 Davis' sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole, due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
that invalidated all death sentences in the nation. Davis was found dead at the age of 67 in his maximum-security single cell at Kern Valley State Prison
Kern Valley State Prison
Kern Valley State Prison is in Delano, California and is adjacent to North Kern State Prison. Kern Valley is a Level IV Maximum Security institution. This prison houses 5,013 inmates with a design capacity of 2,448. Kern Valley opened in June 2005 and has an annual operating budget of .-External...
of an apparent suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on August 16, 2009.
After the shootout, the circumstances of the event were scrutinized, causing the CHP and other police departments to re-examine their methods of training and tactics.
Overall, none of the four CHP officers who were killed had more than two years of experience on the job. Gore and Frago were both 23 years old, while Pence and Alleyn were both 24. The three officers who fired their handguns were using .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
rounds, even though they had only been trained and certified with .38 Special
.38 Special
The .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
ammunition, which has less recoil. Soon after the shootout, the CHP standardized their ammunition on the .38 caliber round, ensuring all officers trained with the same ammunition they would use on duty. Lack of familiarity with their service shotguns was also cited as a problem during the shootout, as evidenced by Frago's mistake of approaching with the gun at "port arms" and Alleyn's error of ejecting a live round.
Another issue brought up by the Newhall massacre was the difficulty in reloading revolvers under fire without a speedloader
Speedloader
A speedloader is a device used for loading a firearm or firearm magazine that will run out of ammunition very quickly. Generally, speedloaders are used for loading all chambers of a revolver simultaneously, although speedloaders are also used for the loading of fixed tubular magazines of shotguns...
, something that may have cost Pence his life. Shortly afterward, the CHP became the first major state police department to approve and issue speedloaders.
The incident was later documented by firearms instructor Massad Ayoob
Massad Ayoob
Massad F. Ayoob is an internationally known firearms and self-defense instructor. He has taught police techniques and civilian self-defense to both law enforcement officers and private citizens in numerous venues since 1974...
in his 1995 book The Ayoob Files: The Book. In addition to the other issues mentioned above, Ayoob brought up the issue of California's policy of strictly limiting the number of CCW
Concealed carry
Concealed carry, or CCW , refers to the practice of carrying a handgun or other weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in proximity.-In Canada:...
permits issued to private citizens. Ayoob claimed that if citizens such as Gary Kness had been able to intervene with their own weapons instead of relying on the dropped weapons of the fallen CHP officers, they might have made a far more positive impact.
In 2008, a stretch of Interstate 5
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...
in Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita, California
Santa Clarita is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States and the twenty-fourth largest city in the state of California. The 2010 US Census reported the city's population grew 16.7% from the year 2000 to 176,320 residents. It is located about northwest of downtown...
was named after the four slain officers. Kness, then aged 69, attended the ceremony and was congratulated as a hero.
See also
- List of massacres in California
- 2009 Oakland police shootings
- 1986 FBI Miami shootout
- North Hollywood shootoutNorth Hollywood shootoutThe North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
- Norco shootoutNorco shootoutThe Norco shootout was an armed confrontation between five heavily armed bank robbers and deputies of the Riverside and San Bernardino County sheriff's departments in Norco, California, United States on May 9, 1980...
Sources
- Ayoob. M. (1995). The Ayoob Files: The Book Pages 114-129
- officer.com story of the event
- CHP website
- Newhall Incident: The day that shook our valley
- The Newhall Incident: A Law Enforcement Tragedy (Documentary)