Man Claims Shooting Accidental

A former Canoga Park man who was twice jailed on domestic violence charges testified Friday that he accidentally shot and killed an ex-girlfriend as they struggled over a gun the woman was pointing at him.

Taking the witness stand in his own defense at his capital murder trial, Mark Bowersock, 40, said that although he fled the state after the woman’s death, buried the weapon and altered his appearance before turning himself in to authorities, it was the victim who initiated the altercation.

“I was just bummed out things turned out the way they did because I never wanted to do any physical harm to Laurie Prejean,” Bowersock told a nine-man, four-woman jury during his second day of testimony.

Prosecutors maintain that Bowersock deliberately killed Prejean, 38, in her sister’s Saugus home Feb. 3 because she testified that he beat her during a probation violation hearing involving similar charges from another ex-girlfriend. He was imprisoned for one month as a result of her testimony and was released from jail just five days before the slaying.

Bowersock, however, claimed Friday that he was only being friendly when he went to visit Prejean, who had obtained a restraining order against him. He intended to bring her her mail and take her out for a meal, he said.

But when he poked his head inside the home’s ajar door, uttered a cheery “Mailman,” and entered, the woman struck him in the head with the telephone she had been speaking into and moved toward a kitchen counter where a gun lay, Bowersock said.

“I ran after her and said, ‘No, no,’ ” he said.

According to his account, which was twice interrupted as he struggled to retain his composure, Prejean grabbed the weapon, then pointed it at him. The two began fighting over it and at one point, Bowersock threw her to the ground by the hair after she bit him, he said.

“We were having a tug-of-war, sort of,” Bowersock said. As they tussled, Bowersock said he finally managed to yank the gun from Prejean’s hands, accidentally cocking the trigger and twice discharging the gun.

“I took the two steps or three steps to her and said, ‘Please, don’t be hurt. Then whoosh--blood--it was terrible. . . . It came out from under her dress,” Bowersock said.

Bowersock said as he raced toward the phone to summon help, he realized the gun in his hand belonged to him, not Prejean. He said he routinely carried a .38-caliber handgun to protect himself from another ex-girlfriend, but he did not elaborate on how that weapon may have ended up in Prejean’s possession.

“When I saw my gun, I freaked out. I took the mail . . . and I just ran. I ended up in her [Prejean’s] car,” he said.

Bowersock did not dispute other witnesses’ testimony that he abandoned the car at a Van Nuys parking lot, took a taxi to the downtown bus station and fled to a friend’s house in Arizona. He and the friend buried the gun in the desert.

“I hated that gun. I didn’t want anybody to be able to use it,” he said.

Bowersock said he took an airplane to St. Louis the next day and then decided to return to Los Angeles to turn himself in. He checked into a North Hills motel and summoned the news media to watch him turn himself in to sheriff’s deputies.

“I wanted to turn myself in under my own terms, not have somebody crash through the door or some other darn thing,” he said.

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During a brief cross-examination before court was dismissed for the day, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Chasworth read a newspaper account from the day of his arrest that quoted him saying he was already out of town when Prejean was killed and was “totally stunned” when he learned he was a suspect in the slaying.

“That’s a total lie,” he retorted. Under further questioning from the prosecutor, he became combative and answered questions by saying, “I don’t know,” “I can’t really remember,” and at one point, “No comment.”

Testimony in the case is scheduled to resume Monday.