A 61-year-old man may face felony charges for assembling, placing and maintaining shotgun shell booby traps at a residence in Santa Monica, officials announced Monday.
Officers with the Santa Monica Police Department discovered the booby traps after responding to a “shots fire” call Sunday at a residence in the 3300 block of Exposition Boulevard, SMPD officials said in a news release.
A neighbor who called 911 told police that she also heard a male voice coming from the residence’s garage who was threatening to kill someone.
Inside the residence, police located two elderly females who were unharmed and a third person, now identified as Arthur Tabuchi, who was also unharmed.
“While checking the garage, officers located a shotgun shell mounted on top of a work bench,” the release noted. “The shell had been rigged with a spring-loaded firing pin and a wire attached to the end of the pin and the garage door.”
Police determined that the wire was set to pull the firing pin out and fire the shell toward the door when it was opened and quickly evacuated the home while deputies with the Los Angeles County Bomb Squad were called in to clear the residence and garage of any additional booby traps.
On the north side of the home, a second shotgun shell was located next to a pedestrian gate with a similar firing pin and tripwire set up.
“This shell, which had been altered to be a sound diversion device (no projectile) had been recently discharged and is believed to be the source of the original Shots Fired call,” police said.
Members of the bomb squad were able to dismantle the shotgun shell in the garage and no other live booby traps were located. After obtaining a search warrant for the premises, detectives did locate other illegally obtained ammunition.
Officials said that Tabuchi was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
“Felony charges of assembling, placing and maintaining a booby trap will be filed by written complaint with the District Attorney’s Office,” the release noted.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact SMPD Det. McCoy at james.mccoy@santamonica.gov or Sgt. Cooney at shgun.cooney@santamonica.gov or call the Watch Commander 24 hours a day at 310-458-8427.
