Man with replica pistol killed by Huntington Beach police

This post has been updated; see note at bottom for details.

A man shot and killed by a Huntington Beach police officer had pulled out what appeared to be a gun when confronted by police, authorities said.

Police were called about 4:30 p.m. Thursday to the 4900 block of Warner Avenue with a report of a man and woman arguing behind an Italian restaurant, said Lt. Mitchell O'Brien of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

The man was identified by authorities Friday as 20-year-old Ian Christopher Berrier.

The caller, according to O'Brien, told authorities the man claimed to have a handgun and was making threats, the Huntington Beach Independent reported.

When police arrived, the couple was seen walking through a nearby housing tract. O'Brien said an officer opened fire after he confronted the man, who pulled out what was later determined to be a "replica semiautomatic pistol."

Berrier died at the scene. The woman was uninjured and in police custody.

The officer, whose identity was not released by authorities, was uninjured.

[Updated at 8:02 a.m., March 22: The name of the deceased man was added -- and sentences were changed to conform -- after police released his identity Friday morning.]

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Man with replica firearm killed in O.C. officer-involved shooting

A man was shot and killed late Thursday afternoon by a Huntington Beach police officer after pulling out what appeared to be a gun when he was confronted by police, authorities said.

Police were called about 4:30 p.m. with a report of a man and woman arguing behind an Italian restaurant in the 4900 block of Warner Avenue, Huntington Beach police Lt. Mitchell O'Brien said at a news conference near the scene.

The caller, according to O'Brien, told authorities that the man claimed to have a handgun and was making threats.

When police arrived, the couple were spotted walking through a nearby housing tract.

O'Brien said an officer opened fire after he confronted the man and the latter pulled out what was later determined to be a "replica semiautomatic pistol."

The man, whose identity has not been released by authorities, died at the scene. The woman with him was uninjured and is in police custody.

The officer, whose identity also hasn't been disclosed by authorities, was not injured.

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Police investigate fatal officer-involved shooting in Huntington Beach

A person was fatally shot late Thursday afternoon by a Huntington Beach police officer, but authorities have not yet disclosed any information on what prompted the shooting.

The person, whose identity and gender have not been released, was shot near the intersection of Warner Avenue and Hoskins Lane about 4:30 p.m., said Lt. John Cottriel of the Huntington Beach Police Department. The area is mostly residential.

Huntington Beach police Lt. Mitchell O'Brien confirmed the death of the person shot and said the officer involved was not injured.

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San Onofre design choices led to nuclear plant shutdown

An executive with the company that manufactured faulty equipment that led to the shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear plant defended decisions made in the design of the replacement steam generators.

The company made choices in designing support structures at San Onofre that were intended to prevent one type of vibration, but ended up creating another type of vibration that ultimately led to the plant's closure, said Frank Gillespie, senior vice president with Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems.

The problematic vibration, he said, had not been seen at any other plant before, although it had been observed in experimental conditions.

That vibration led to excessive wear on the tubes, particularly in the plant's Unit 3, where one tube sprang a leak and released a small amount of radioactive steam on Jan. 31, 2012, and eight tubes failed pressure tests.

The nuclear facility has been closed for more than a year.

Mitsubushi discussed the design process in a proprietary report that was made public in a redacted form earlier this month.

Gillespie said designers working on the new system in 2005 put "paramount focus" on controlling vibration and reducing wear. In the process, they added more anti-vibration bars, but made other changes that led to less contact between the bars and tubes.

In Unit 3 in particular, the bars were flatter, leading to about half the amount of pressure between bars and tubes as in Unit 2, the plant's other working reactor unit, which also saw an unusual but less severe amount of wear.

“What they didn’t understand at the time is, some of the steps ... actually made in plane [vibration] worse,” Gillespie said. "...There was an underappreciation for the fact that the pressure of the bars against the tubes actually performed a very important function."

Anti-nuclear activists and some lawmakers -- notably, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)  -- have accused Mitsubishi and plant operator Southern California Edison of being aware of defects in the equipment's design prior to installation and failing to make modifications that might have prevented the problem in order to avoid going through a potentially lengthy license amendment process.

Mitsubishi's root cause report did show that some changes were rejected in part because they would have required a license amendment. The changes were intended to reduce the dryness of the steam flowing around the tubes, which ended up being a factor in the problematic vibration.

Anaheim police officer cleared in fatal shooting

An Anaheim police officer had reason to believe his life was in danger after cornering a young man in an apartment complex and fatally shooting him in a known hotbed for gang activity, prosecutors say.

After a monthslong investigation, Orange County prosecutors said Wednesday they had cleared Officer Nicholas Bennallack in last summer's shooting -- one in a string of officer-involved shootings that prompted a torrent of unrest in the county's largest city.

"In such a scenario, one can have only a split-second to decide how to proceed," said Assistant Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner, who added that the evidence suggested that Bennallack "believed he was in imminent danger."

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Prosecutors said the examination was "thorough," based on dozens of witness interviews, as well as forensic analysis and a review of the employment record of Bennallack and criminal history of Diaz, 25.

In the report, prosecutors said Diaz was a gang member with a previous gun-possession conviction, and disclosed that investigators found a cellphone at the scene that had photographs of Diaz flashing gang signs and brandishing several handguns.

Dana Douglas, an attorney for the Diaz family, criticized the decision to not file charges, calling the findings "biased" and Bennallack — who had been investigated and cleared in another fatal shooting earlier in 2012 — "trigger-happy."

O.C. man guilty of bludgeoning boyfriend, stealing valuables

An Orange County man was convicted Wednesday of beating his boyfriend to death with a rock, then stealing his car, money and other valuables.

Jose Fuentes, 23, was found guilty by a jury on one felony count of murder, as well as one felony count each of first-degree robbery and first-degree residential burglary, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office.

Prosecutors said Fuentes, a Santa Ana resident, faces a minimum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. His sentencing is scheduled for Friday.

Prosecutors said that in June 2010, Fuentes had been in a relationship with Pedro Cerecer for about a month, and that by June 5, Fuentes had plotted for several days to kill Cerecer and steal his property. On that day, prosecutors said, Fuentes went to Cerecer's Santa Ana apartment and waited for Cerecer to fall asleep.

Prosecutors said that Fuentes beat Cerecer with a decorative rock, killing him. He took Cerecer's credit cards, cellphone and household electronics, including a flat-screen television. He loaded it into Cerecer's Toyota sedan and fled.

On June 6, Fuentes was stopped by Garden Grove police and arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and driving without a valid license, prosecutors said. Santa Ana police were able to link Fuentes to the killing after the car was impounded.

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Photo: Jose Fuentes. Credit: Santa Ana Police Department

Anaheim cop cleared in fatal shooting that sparked violence

After a months-long investigation, prosecutors Wednesday announced they have cleared the Anaheim police officer who shot and killed a young man last summer, prompting a wave of protests and unrest over the summer in Orange County's largest city.

At a news conference Wednesday, prosecutors said Officer Nicholas Bennallack of the Anaheim Police Department had reason to believe that his life was in danger after cornering 25-year-old Manuel Diaz in an apartment complex courtyard

Prosecutors said the officer had only a split-second to act.

The report released by the district attorney's office said Bennallack was "on the horns of a do-or-die dilemma."

At the news conference, authorities said that Diaz -- who was shot twice, first in the rear and again in the head -- was a gang member with a previous conviction on gun charges.

A cellphone recovered at the scene had photos of him flashing gang signs and brandishing a handgun, authorities said.

His family, through an attorney, has denied the allegation that he was part of a gang. They were said to be "in tears and distraught" upon reading the report's findings, attorney Dana Douglas said.

Parolee accused of shooting Fullerton police officer

A 29-year-old parolee gang member acquitted two weeks ago in an attempted murder and carjacking case is now being charged with shooting a Fullerton police officer multiple times at close range, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a statement.

After being pulled over in a routine traffic stop early Sunday, Marcos Allen Bush allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the officer at point-blank range in the chest.

Bush is accused of firing at the officer several more times, hitting him twice in the arm and again in the leg, before speeding from the scene in his vehicle with an unidentified passenger.

The officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, fired two rounds at the vehicle as it sped away, the statement said. It was not known if he struck the vehicle. The officer was hospitalized and is recovering from his injuries.

Later Sunday, as Fullerton and Anaheim police attempted to arrest Bush at an Anaheim apartment, he allegedly ran from officers, dropping a firearm and bullets, the statement said. He was later apprehended.

That same day, California Highway Patrol officers located the vehicle Bush had been driving in Riverside County. Sjanee Duhart, 27, was arrested and is accused of attempting to get rid of the vehicle with the intent of aiding Bush in eluding the law.

Bush was charged with one felony count each of attempted murder, shooting from a motor vehicle, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on a peace officer, possession of a firearm by a felon and street terrorism.

In addition, he faces three felony counts of shooting at a residence and sentencing enhancements and allegations for criminal street gang activity, the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury, the personal use of a firearm, causing great bodily injury and a prior strike conviction for criminal threats in 2009.

If convicted Bush faces a minimum sentence of 60 years to life in state prison. He is being held on  $1-million bail. He is on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and domestic violence. Bush is accused of being a documented member of an Anaheim gang.

In 2010, Bush was accused of firing a gun at a man, demanding his money, and then striking him on the head and arm with a metal pipe before stealing his car.

Bush was found not guilty earlier this month in a 2010 carjacking and attempted murder case.

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Helicopter drops 2,305 golf balls onto school field

A black helicopter circled closer and closer to the schoolyard at St. Joachim Catholic School in Costa Mesa on Tuesday, prepping to unload its cargo of 2,305 golf balls.

Minutes earlier, a group of students had cheered as Elizabeth McNulty showed them a photo of the coastline, proving the aircraft was on its way.

"Over Laguna," she said, reading a text from her phone.

And then the chopper was there, circling in slowly to hover about 75 feet from the ground.

Kids cheered again as a passenger waved and began dumping out three orange tubs full of numbered golf balls.

Students had sold the balls for $10 a pop. The ones that landed closest to markers on the ground won their buyers a prize.

For the last three years, the ball drop has been a fundraiser for the educational program at the 300-student Catholic school.

The annual event started when parent Mike Manclark volunteered to fly in his helicopter as part of the fundraiser.

"He's done it before for golf tournaments," his wife, Michelle, said as she snapped photos of kids gathering the golf balls in their shirts, pockets and jackets afterward.

The event raised about $21,000 last year, and the school estimates it collected about that much this year.

"I think the best part about it is watching the kids," said McNulty, who organized the event.

Most students were gathered on the blacktop, sitting cross-legged and covering their eyes or ears as the copter kicked up dust. But a group of seventh-grade boys closest to the chopper clutched the fence as the gusts hit them the hardest.

"This side is the best," said student Cole McFetters.

Seventh-grader Wil Sandberg said that for the last two years, he and his classmates have homed in on the most hurricane-like spot so they could "feel the rush — adrenaline."

For the first time this year, the grand prize went to someone who bought just one ball. Ten percent of the raffle's overall proceeds will go to Shannon Bales, who bought a single ball from student Jackson Young, McNulty said.

San Juan Capistrano celebrates, but will swallows arrive?

It’s a century-old tradition that has waned in recent years, the annual migration of cliff swallows — those diminutive birds that live in mud nests along vertical walls — from Argentina to Orange County’s Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Though fewer and fewer seem to return each year, the celebration for their arrival hasn’t diminished.

On Tuesday, residents and schoolchildren alike will celebrate St. Joseph’s Day and the fabled return of the swallows to the mission, an Orange County tradition that goes back generations. People used to say you could set your clock to the birds’ arrival.

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Mission officials are honoring St. Joseph — spouse of the Virgin Mary — and the swallows’ arrival by ringing the mission’s historic bells and offering live performances by a mariachi band and flamenco dancers.

Tuesday is stoked in tradition for the mission, but much has changed in recent years. As fewer of the birds have returned since they were first welcomed onto the grounds nearly 100 years ago, mission officials have tried different ways to lure them back.

This year the mission is playing swallow mating calls from speakers behind a statue of Father Junipero Serra, the mission’s founder. The recorded mating sounds had some success in 2012, mission officials said. They hope the momentum will carry forward.

Experts blame the swallows’ disappearance on urbanization. Mission restoration projects in recent years have also scared off the avians.

“I think if we keep trying long enough, eventually, some individuals will come by, they’ll see the mission and they will realize it’s a good place to nest, as they did in the past,” said Charles Brown, a swallows expert from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

But as a recent study shows, the swallows are adjusting to a changing world. A study published Monday in the journal Current Biology shows the birds have developed shorter wingspans, making them take off faster and turn quicker to avoid modern-day hazards like moving vehicles.

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Photo: A bird sits atop a cross at Mission San Juan Capistrano during St. Joseph's Day in 2012. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times