CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Firearms Agent Charged in Shooting

A federal firearms agent who put a loaded gun to a colleague’s head to show he had nothing to be despondent about, then saw the gun go off, should have understood the risk, prosecutors say. But the attorney for Mark Herzog, 35, a veteran agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the fatal shooting Tuesday of Bradford Scott Brown, 25, was unintentional. At Herzog’s arraignment on a charge of second-degree murder, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vince Adeszko said the agent must have understood the risk involved. Prosecutors said Herzog apparently was counseling Brown about personal problems, and trying to use a shock technique--leaving one bullet in the cylinder and putting the gun to his temple--to show Brown that his problems were not so serious. Police said Herzog acknowledged that he held the weapon to Brown’s head, but he said Brown grabbed for the gun, forced Herzog’s finger onto the trigger and discharged the weapon.