Game warden kills O.C. man in shootout in Sierra foothills

SACRAMENTO -- A fatal shootout between a game warden and a fugitive this week illustrates the increasing dangers faced by state Department of Fish and Game agents, officials said Wednesday.

The warden was serving a citation Monday for illegal burning in a remote area of the Sierra foothills north of Oroville, Calif., when he discovered that the suspect was wanted in Hawaii on an outstanding warrant for selling methamphetamine.

Bartyn Pitts, 39, of Orange County opened fire with a shotgun and was killed when the warden returned fire, Butte County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramsey said. The department will not release the warden’s name until the shooting investigation is completed.

Wardens routinely confront armed suspects such as Pitts, who authorities say was tending a marijuana plot, said Nancy Foley, the department’s deputy director for law enforcement.

“It’s inherently dangerous. Everybody we come in contact with has either a gun or a knife,” Foley said. “They’re generally in more rural areas; we’re out there by ourselves, [and] radio coverage is sometimes hit or miss in some of those canyons.”

Department spokesman Steve Martarano said wardens increasingly were confronting people involved in drug running and other illegal activities.

The department has had trouble filling warden vacancies because wages are low compared with other law enforcement agencies.

The department is supposed to have 370 wardens but has 57 vacancies with 75 wardens eligible to retire in December, Foley said. Wardens are getting raises, but not enough to catch up with other agencies.

New wardens start at $45,000 a year, while veterans can earn nearly $70,000 beginning Jan. 1, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Department officials said two similar shootings occurred in the 1920s.

In June 1927, a warden was patrolling San Joaquin County when he asked to see the licenses of three hunters. One of the three shot the warden with a shotgun. But as he was falling, the agent fatally shot his assailant, Martarano said.

Between 1928 and 1930 another warden was shot in the jaw in Marin County as he tried to arrest two men who were spearing steelhead trout. The warden killed his attacker.

Both wardens recovered from their wounds.