Man Killed in Campground Shoot-Out

A Fullerton man, reportedly on a weekend drinking and target shooting spree in an Angeles National Forest campground, died early Sunday morning in a shoot-out with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responding to reports of a disturbance.

Christopher T. Hefner, 30, an appliance company warehouse worker, was declared dead at the scene of the incident, which began shortly before 2 a.m. in the Coldbrook Campground near Crystal Lake in the San Gabriel Mountains. The deputies involved in the shooting were not hurt. Their names were not released.

A companion of Hefner’s, Gerald Taber, 27, whose address was unknown, was arrested for assaulting a campground couple with a handgun, but he was released from the Los Angeles County Jail Sunday night after the man and woman decided not to press charges.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Williams said the couple was arguing in the campground when a man walked up, identified himself as a police officer and put a pistol to the man’s head.

When the girlfriend demanded to see identification, the intruder left. Another camper phoned for help. When deputies arrived, they saw a man standing by a tree with a gun in his hand. Williams said the deputies ordered the man to drop his gun. Instead, he pointed it at deputies and started firing.

Three of the deputies returned fire as the man, using both a .45-caliber automatic pistol and a .38-caliber revolver, continued shooting until he was fatally wounded, Williams said.

Deputies attributed the incident to the volatile combination of alcohol and guns, saying the two men had been drinking heavily.