Malibu, California

From the Malibu Times of November 9, 2005

Process server shoots Malibu resident

The server, a retired Orange County Sheriff's deputy, said he was sprayed with some sort of gas and defended himself.

Residents of a Malibu condominium complex had a real Halloween fright, when a man was shot during a scuffle with a process server in the middle of the night.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives said a team of three people, one of them a retired Orange County Sheriff's deputy, attempted to deliver a court order to a resident of the condominium complex on Vista Pacifica at 1 a.m. Nov. 1.

The shooting came after the resident and the process server fought as the team tried to serve a Superior Court restraining order against the Malibu man.

"There was an argument in the doorway, and then that continued about a hundred yards away, where there was an additional confrontation at the gate to the complex," said Detective F. Bauschman of the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff's Station.

"The process server was sprayed with some sort of gas and overcome," Bauschman said. "The process server said he was in fear in losing consciousness and that the attack would continue."

The resident was shot once by the retired officer's 9mm semi-automatic handgun, Bauschman said, and was subdued at that point by the team of process servers.

The gunshot victim remained hospitalized this week in good condition.

Bauschman said no charges had been filed yet, but that criminal charges may be filed within the next 10 days.