Santa Ana Police Gun Expert Dies While Test Firing Weapon

The Police Department’s shooting range master, responsible for weapons training, shot and killed himself Wednesday in what police described as a freak accident.

Civilian employee Joseph Samuel Boyd, a former Marine with an extensive weapons background, was killed by a single shot to the neck as he examined an outlawed MAC-10, 9-millimeter assault weapon at the police firing range.

“When you mention being shot, and you mention Joe Boyd’s name in the same breath, it’s not compatible,” said Don Blankenship, head of the police union.

Lt. Bob Helton said the gun was being held in evidence as a possible link to a crime that police declined to specify.

Helton said two Santa Ana police investigators had taken the gun to Boyd to test fire, a common practice in trying to establish a link between a weapon and a crime.

Boyd, 54, apparently was holding the gun away from himself and checking on a possible jam when it fired. Helton said it appears that Boyd accidentally flipped the gun selector to fully automatic and that the gun then jerked toward him as it unexpectedly released a spray of bullets.

One of those entered Boyd’s neck below his right jawline and came out through his skull. Neither investigator was injured.

Boyd was pronounced dead on arrival at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Helton said the Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the shooting at the request of Santa Ana police.

Boyd, who lived in Lake Forest, is survived by his wife of 34 years, Marion, and two grown children.