Newhall Shooting - A Tactical Analysis. Michael E. Wood

Tragedy [Film]. Santa Clarita, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvhs040510btv.html>. Individual source references will only be provided by exception for the remainder of the narrative.

      9. In the CHP’s report of the shooting, they went to lengths to explain that brandishing calls were routine in this rural area and the reported crime was a misdemeanor, not a felony, which may have affected the response and mindset of the officers. California Highway Patrol. (1970) Information Bulletin (July 1, 1970): Shooting Incident—Newhall Area. Sacramento, CA.

      10. Alternate versions of Frago’s approach exist. In the CHP Information Bulletin of 1 Jul ’70, the CHP noted simply that Frago approached the passenger side of the vehicle in a “port arms” position and made no mention of him reaching for the door handle, but several witnesses (among them Joseph Tancredi) specifically recalled seeing Officer Frago extend his left hand to open the door while his right held the shotgun with muzzle up in the air in the “hip rest” carry position taught to CHP cadets at the Academy. In the 1975 training film produced by the CHP (with the full benefit of access to the detailed investigation report from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Homicide investigators, the CHP’s own investigation report, the official record of the October 1970 trial of Bobby Davis, and the interviews and testimony of the involved parties and witnesses), Frago is specifically described as having reached to operate the handle on the door of the Pontiac with his left hand, so that is the accepted version for this narrative. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files, California Highway Patrol. (1970) Information Bulletin (July 1, 1970): Shooting Incident—Newhall Area. Sacramento, CA, and California Highway Patrol. (1975) Newhall: 1970 [Film]. Sacramento, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/newhall1970-chp1975btv.html>.

      11. Ironically, this model was known as the “Highway Patrolman,” and in a previous life it had been a duty weapon for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) The weapon had been sold as surplus by the DPS and purchased as one of a group of 50 weapons by Glenn Slade’s Texas Gun Clinic, a wholesaler in Houston. Salesman Henry Fontenot reported that he had sanded the DPS serial numbers off the guns in compliance with a DPS requirement of sale. Davis had purchased the firearm on March 6, 1970, using an alias. Ten days later, he bought the Smith & Wesson Model 38 Bodyguard Airweight revolver that he used to threaten the Tidwell’s from the same dealer. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files.

      12. It has been reported from reliable sources close to the investigation that Twining admitted to watching Officer Frago in the side and rear view mirrors as he exited the patrol car. During his phone conversation with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators from the Hoag house, Twining supposedly stated he unlatched his door prior to Officer Frago’s advance, but did not push it open, in a preparatory move for the ambush he was planning. When Twining saw Officer Frago near the car and shift his shotgun from “port arms” to what the CHP training manuals described as a “hip rest” position, he knew he could attack Officer Frago before the officer could get the gun into action. As Officer Frago reached for the door, Twining threw it open and ambushed the unsuspecting officer. Personal interview with a confidential source, July 2011.

      13. Davis’ Model 38 revolver would be recovered from the rear seat of the Pontiac after the shooting was over, with five spent cases in the cylinder.

      Twining’s Model 28 revolver would be recovered later that morning at another crime scene along the escape path of suspect Davis, in San Francisquito Canyon. When the weapon was recovered by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas L. Fryer, it had a single spent case in the weapon, which was not resting under the hammer. No other cartridges or cases were in the weapon. Because it was known that a single round had been fired at that second crime scene, LASD investigators initially assumed that it had been fired from this weapon. If this were true, then it would indicate that Twining fired all but this one cartridge in the Standard Station parking lot, instead of emptying the revolver as indicated in the narrative, because the suspect Davis did not have spare ammunition on his person to reload the gun when he fled the original crime scene with it.

      However, it was later determined that Davis had another gun in his possession at the San Francisquito Canyon crime scene (Officer Frago’s Colt Officer’s Model Match revolver), and this gun was also found empty with the exception of a single spent case, making it possible that this was the gun that fired the shot instead. The CHP felt that this was the gun used by Davis against Schwartz.

      In the wake of inconclusive evidence to prove which gun fired the shot during the escape, it is suggested that it is much more likely the round was fired from Officer Frago’s Colt. It is hard to imagine that Twining would have stopped shooting at the arriving Unit 78-12 prior to running his Model 28 dry, because he did not have another weapon on his person at this stage of the gunfight. It is much more likely that Twining fired all six shots from this revolver at the initial scene, then ditched the weapon in the car when it proved to be empty, whereupon it was later taken away from the scene by Davis. Davis likely dumped the spent brass (save one, perhaps because he mistakenly thought it was a live cartridge in the darkness or thought it could be used to bluff an opponent) sometime during his escape, because the five spent cases were never recovered at the scene of the shooting. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files.

      14. This is the phraseology attributed to Officer Pence in the 1975 CHP training film, but the 1 Jul ’70 CHP Information Bulletin quotes Officer Pence as saying a slightly altered form: “11-99, shots fired, at J’s Standard.” The official CHP radio log, maintained by Dispatcher Jo Ann Tidley, records the call as, “2356: 78-12, 11-99 Standard Station J’s.” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files, California Highway Patrol. (1970) Information Bulletin (July 1, 1970): Shooting Incident—Newhall Area. Sacramento, CA, and California Highway Patrol. (1975) Newhall: 1970 [Film]. Sacramento, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/newhall1970-chp1975btv.html>.

      15. Davis’ shotgun was a Western Field 550AD, a re-branded Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun with deluxe furniture manufactured for the Montgomery Wards department store chain. This shotgun had a six-round capacity, with one round in the chamber and five rounds in the magazine. Six spent blue Remington-Peters shotgun shells were found at the scene of the shooting, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Evidence Lab technicians verified that they had been fired from this weapon. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files.

      16. A single spent shotgun shell, Sheriff’s Crime Lab evidence number JHC #24, was found lodged in the front grille of the Pontiac after the shooting. None of the remaining five shotgun shells that were fired from this weapon were found at the front of the Pontiac, so it appears that Davis only fired a single round with the Western Field 550AD from this position.

      17. The sequence of events for Twining’s malfunction and his position during this stage of the fight is driven by the physical evidence at the scene. The Remington-Rand 1911A1 pistol was found on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat with six live rounds in the magazine and a seventh live round jammed in the chamber. An eighth live round was recovered from the ground on the driver’s side of the Pontiac (evidence placard “JHC #8” for Sheriff’s Crime Lab employee Jack H. Clark), the only live .45 ACP round found in the vicinity. An accounting of the evidence indicates that eight other spent .45 ACP cases were found at the scene, all of which were determined to be fired in a second 1911A1 pistol of Colt manufacture that was recovered as evidence. No other .45 ACP spent cases were found at the scene. Therefore, it is likely that the Remington-Rand 1911A1 was not fired at the scene and the JHC #8 live round that was booked into evidence was probably the eighth cartridge that had originally been loaded into the pistol.

      This is supported by Twining’s testimony as well. During his phone conversation with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective (Sgt.) John M. Brady, Twining was asked