Man charged with killing camper in Malibu and trying to kill 10 others

Authorities announced on Monday that a 42-year-old man has been charged with killing a camper sleeping in his tent with his two young daughters at Malibu Creek State Park last summer.

Anthony Rauda has been charged with one count of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.  Prosecutors believe that Rauda first shot a hiker in November 2016.

The man, who was sleeping in a hammock, awoke to a loud bang and said he felt a burning sensation in his arm. He looked down to find pellets from a shotgun blast embedded in his skin.

Rauda continued to prey on hikers, authorities said. They believe that he killed 35-year-old Tristan Beaudette on June 22, 2018. His two daughters, who were inside the tent, were not harmed. 

“Our community, the greater Malibu community, is still coping with the loss of those in Thousand Oaks followed by the loss of all the homes and three people in the fire,” said Malibu City Councilman Skylar Peak, referring to the mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill and the eruption of the Woolsey fire a day later. “It has just been a really tough, tough end to 2018, that I feel a lot of people are looking to put behind them.”

Rauda was arrested near Malibu last October in connection with a string of burglaries, but news that he was carrying a rifle at the time of his capture led to speculation that he might have been the gunman connected to the sporadic shootings.

Forensic tests confirmed that the rifle he was arrested with was used in several of the shootings, said two law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the case candidly.

Read more here: Sleeping outdoors with a rifle, murder suspect stalked Malibu for years, officials say.