Man’s Shooting Death on Hunting Trip Investigated

Santa Ana police were investigating the accidental shooting death of a 26-year-old Santa Ana man after friends did not report the shooting until they returned the body to Santa Ana on Friday morning from a ranch in San Diego County.

According to Santa Ana police, Adam Olivos of Santa Ana died Thursday afternoon after he was shot in the head when a .22-caliber rifle that had been jammed went off accidentally.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Collie Provence said Olivos, three juveniles and an adult male, whose names where not released, went on a hunting expedition Thursday afternoon to the Olivos family ranch in De Luz, a community just east of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

While sitting on the porch of the ranch house, one of the friends was trying to repair the jammed rifle and it went off, killing Adam Olivos, Provence said.

Police and Olivos’ family would not name the friends or say which one handled the rifle when it went off.

Panicked, the youths and the adult drove Olivos to Santa Ana, where they notified police about 2:30 a.m. Friday, Provence said.

Police had not determined Friday whether Olivos died immediately after the shooting or en route to Santa Ana, Provence said.

Santa Ana police have determined that the shooting was accidental and have “no suspicion of foul play,” Provence said.

“The kids were just being kids, they panicked. It was a real tragedy. We will conduct a thorough investigation which will be looked at by the district attorney,” he said.

According to Alfonso Olivos, the 45-year-old brother of the shooting victim, Adam Olivos was an assistant manager at Cine Yost, a Mexican-styled community theater in Santa Ana. He was the youngest of three brothers and one sister.

Alfonso Olivos said his brother and “some boys from work” headed out to the family ranch Thursday to hunt rabbits and squirrels. They were expected to return Friday night, he said.

Alfonso Olivos said police told him his brother was killed instantly by the gunshot. He said the others were frightened and were not familiar with the area so they drove the body to Santa Ana before reporting the shooting.

“He was in the bloom of his life,” Alfonso said. “Everyone that knew him thought a lot of him.”