Anthony Rauda accused of shooting Tristan Beaudette, a man camping with his daughters, attempting to kill 10 others
By Sam Catanzaro
A man has faces life in prison for the fatal shooting of a camper in Malibu Creek State Park sleeping in a tent with his daughters and attempting to kill 10 others in connection with a series of shootings over a two-year period, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced.
On October 21 a grand jury returned the superseding indictment against 43-year-old Anthony Rauda for one count of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and five counts of second-degree burglary. The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday.
Rauda pleaded not guilty to the charges at Tuesday’s hearing and is scheduled to return for a pretrial hearing on December 5. If convicted as charged, Rauda faces a maximum sentence of more than 265 years to life in state prison.
Rauda allegedly shot at unsuspecting campers or motorists dating back to November 2016 when he is accused of wounding a man who was sleeping in a hammock in the Malibu State Park area. Less than a week later, he allegedly fired into the sleeping area of a vehicle.
Rauda also is accused of shooting into vehicles on three different occasions in 2017. No one was injured.
The defendant allegedly shot at a Tesla on Las Virgenes Road on June 18, 2018. Four days later, he is accused of killing Tristan Beaudette, 35, who was shot and killed while in a tent with his two daughters in Malibu Creek State Park. His children were not injured.
Rauda also has been charged with several burglaries that occurred in the Calabasas area.
In October, Rauda was arrested by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies who spotted him on a ridgetop carrying a rifle in a backpack. The deputies had been searching the area for an armed burglar who had been breaking into homes and businesses. At the time, Rauda was not considered a suspect in the Santa Monica Mountains shootings.
“ A concentrated effort by Detectives to unearth the past activities of Rauda correlating with this investigation, has revealed that he apparently acted alone during this identified crime spree, stretching from November 2016 to October 2018. No similar crimes have been reported in the area since the October 2018, arrest of Rauda,” said the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department in a press release earlier this year.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
