Newhall Shooting - A Tactical Analysis. Michael E. Wood

ditching the empty shotgun on the ground at the rear of the patrol car, Officer Alleyn drew his six-inch Smith & Wesson Model 19-2 .357 Magnum revolver from its crossdraw holster and began to fire at Davis, who had rounded the front of the Pontiac on the passenger’s side and had begun to advance to a position in front of and between the two CHP units with his sawed off-pump shotgun.²⁵ As he moved, Davis possibly fired one round from the shotgun at Officer Pence, striking the side of the unit. (Refer again to Fig. 20.)²⁶

      Officer Alleyn fired three rounds of .357 Magnum ammunition at Davis (and possibly Twining, according to a witness), from the left rear of Unit 78-8, firing from the time that Davis was at the front of the Pontiac to when he advanced on the patrol cars. Witnesses indicated that he fired with a single hand, using the other (his left) to brace himself on the trunk. Unfortunately, none of his bullets hit the highly mobile target that some witnesses later described as “bobbing” and “restless.” (Refer again to Fig. 20.)²⁷

      Officer Alleyn raised himself up above the trunk of Unit 78-8 to locate and target Davis during this phase of the battle and was shot in the face and chest by Davis, who had reached the front of the vehicle by this point. In mortal agony, Officer Alleyn attempted to prop himself up on the trunk lid of the vehicle, whereupon he was shot again in the chest by Davis at the length of the car. This caused Officer Alleyn to reflexively trigger a round from his revolver into the rear window of 78-8, turning the glass into a frosty haze.²⁸ Near death, Officer Alleyn fell forward onto the trunk then slid off to his right. He landed with his feet towards the centerline of the car and his upper body extending past the right side of the car, a total of 10 .33-caliber 00 Buckshot pellets in his face and chest. (Fig. 21)

      With his shotgun finally empty, Davis retreated to the position of the fallen Officer Frago and stripped him of his weapons. He placed the unfired CHP Remington 870 shotgun inside the Pontiac, along with his empty sawed-off shotgun, and armed himself with the fallen officer’s six-inch Colt Officer’s Model Match .38 Special revolver, which he’d taken from Officer Frago’s crossdraw holster. (Figs. 22 and 23)²⁹

      Thusly armed, Davis began to fire at the stricken Officer Alleyn, whose prone body was exposed at the right rear of the Polara. Witnesses would later recount (and blood evidence would confirm), that Davis maneuvered along the entire front of the Pontiac, firing from various positions, and that he rested his left elbow on the hood to brace his right hand, which held the revolver. (Fig. 24)

      CHAPTER 5

      A Heroic Attempt

      Earlier, as Officers Pence and Alleyn raced down the northbound off-ramp and turned westbound onto Henry Mayo Drive, they passed a car on their right waiting at the westbound Henry Mayo Stop sign. The car contained a single citizen by the name of Gary Dean Kness, who was on his way to work the night shift as a computer operator at Hydraulic Research and Manufacturing Corporation, in the nearby Rye Canyon industrial park.

      After Unit 78-12 sped past with amber deck lights flashing, Mr. Kness continued ahead on Henry Mayo Drive, turned right on The Old Road, and followed the vehicle towards the Standard Station. As he approached, it occurred to him that the lights of the gas station were usually off at this time of evening, but tonight they were on for some reason. As he got closer, he saw a pair of CHP cruisers in the parking lot and flashes of gunfire from Officers Pence and Alleyn at the rear of Units 78-12 and 78-8. His first thought was that a movie was being filmed on location, but as he neared the scene and saw Officer Alleyn go down, he realized it was a real gunfight and thought to himself, “Somebody has got to do something.”³⁰

      The former Marine stopped his car along The Old Road, bailed out, and ran about 70 yards to assist Officer Alleyn. His first thought was that he had to get the officer back behind cover, because he was lying in an exposed position at the right rear of the Dodge and the gunman ahead was still firing at him. (Refer again to Figs. 23 and 24.)

      Upon reaching Officer Alleyn, Mr. Kness grabbed him by the gunbelt and attempted to pull him to cover, but he found he could not move him. As Mr. Kness attempted to rescue Officer Alleyn, Davis stepped around the right front of the Pontiac and began to advance on the pair. (Fig. 25)

      Seeing the CHP shotgun on the ground at Officer Alleyn’s feet, Mr. Kness grabbed the weapon, aimed it around the right rear fender of the CHP car (resting his left hand on the fender) at the advancing Davis, and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber. He immediately racked the slide of the shotgun and pulled the trigger again on an empty chamber.³¹

      At the sight of Mr. Kness aiming the shotgun at him, Davis abandoned his advance and immediately retreated back to the front of the Pontiac. However, once it became apparent that the shotgun was empty, Davis began another advance on Mr. Kness and Officer Alleyn, continuing to fire the .38-caliber revolver he had taken from Officer Frago. (Refer again to Fig. 25.)

      When he saw Davis retreat, Mr. Kness ditched the useless shotgun and resumed his work of trying to pull Officer Alleyn to cover behind the vehicle. However, when he saw Davis again step out from the right front of the Pontiac to initiate a new charge on his position, Mr. Kness found and picked up Officer Alleyn’s blood-soaked revolver. He obtained a two-handed grip (a “combat grip” in his description), cocked the weapon, braced his elbows on the trunk of the patrol car, and fired a single round at Davis, who had already fired five of the six Super-Vel .38 Special rounds in Officer Frago’s revolver at Officer Alleyn and Mr. Kness by this point. (Fig. 26)³²

      Mister Kness would later report that the impact of the fired shot spun Davis around, but there was no significant wound from the shot.³³ Davis was later found to have two copper-jacketed fragments imbedded in the upper middle portion of his chest, so it is presumed that the bullet struck the Pontiac first and broke into pieces before it struck Davis. The fragments, depleted of most of their energy and mass, failed to significantly wound him, but it was enough to cause Davis to break off the attack a second time.³⁴ Davis disengaged and headed around the front of the Pontiac to enter the vehicle via the driver’s side door. (Fig. 28)