Security Guard Killed in Shooting Accident

A private security guard was accidentally shot to death by a colleague Saturday morning as they practiced disarming techniques at the county’s Mira Loma Detention Facility, sheriff’s officials said.

The dead guard was identified as Mark Barrass, 22, of Lancaster. The 24-year-old guard who shot him, whose name officials declined to release, was also a Lancaster resident. Both men were employed by West Oaks Securities, a private armed-guard company in Lancaster that provides 24-hour security service for the empty jail, said Britta Tubbs, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department.

Tubbs said the shooting occurred around 5 a.m. in the main control area of the jail when the men began practicing what she described as “gun retention techniques.” She said the two were unloading and loading their duty weapons as they rehearsed taking away an opponent’s weapon.

Barrass’ partner “picked up what he believed to be an unloaded weapon,” Tubbs said, and one round discharged, striking Barrass in the face. He died at the scene.

Authorities, who are still investigating, “truly believe this is an accidental shooting,” said Tubbs.

The Mira Loma jail, adjacent to the county’s High Desert Hospital in western Lancaster, was closed in 1993 for budgetary reasons.