6 Found Dead After Possible Shootout in California Mojave Desert

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Six people have been found dead in a remote Mojave Desert area near the San Bernardino County community of El Mirage, California prompting a homicide investigation, authorities said. News footage showed two abandoned vehicles, one with shattered windows and evidence of gunshots sitting on the dirt road intersection with several visible bodies including some appearing to have been burned.

While Sheriff's investigators have not yet disclosed their identities, possible suspects, or more official information; the desert area has been known for hiding patches of large-scale illegal marijuana grows.

At around 8:15 PM Tuesday night, Sheriff's deputies responded to a request for a wellness check leading to Lessing Ave. and Shadow Mountain Road, an intersection of long dirt roads near US Highway 395 in unincorporated El Mirage, California. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Mara Rodriguez stated. El Mirage is located about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The bodies were found off of US Highway 395 at an intersection in the high desert area, about 20 miles west of Victorville, with the closest towns being Adelanto and Helendale. The Shadow Mountain ghost town is about three miles further west of the crime scene.

Officials initially said five bodies were found, but a sixth was discovered during their investigation of the surrounding area Wednesday morning, Rodriguez said at a news conference.

The bodies had gunshot wounds, FOX 11 reported. Three of them appeared to have been burned, according to ABC7. Their identities were not released by officials as of Thursday.

Desolate Crime Scene

Highway 395 is a long stretch from the high desert of Southern California, into the Eastern Sierras, Northern Nevada, and to Canada. The Old 395 trail stretches down towards San Diego.

One dirt road exit off the highway is Shadow Mountain Road, where about 3 miles out the bodies were discovered. It is often used as a shortcut between nearby Helendale and Lancaster in Los Angeles County. Avoiding traveling further south on 395.

TV crews arriving at the scene Tuesday night reported seeing two vehicles, one a blue Chevrolet Trailblazer. The SUV has both rear doors open with shattered glass and the rear hatch window was also blown out. The driver and passenger windows show evidence of several bullet holes.

A body lays next to the open rear door with at least one more being removed from the area by the coroner. Three of the bodies had been piled on each other and burned. A body, wrapped in a red covering is also seen.

Nearby, a silver minivan is also seen, no bullet holes or damage are visible but at least one body was in front of the van. Later, Sheriff's tow trucks began to remove the vehicles from the crime scene.

News footage showed several yellow evidence markers near the dirt crossroads near the vehicles and the dead bodies were blurred out. A few blue markers can also be seen nearby. The markers could be the locations of ballistic evidence, spent bullet casings, blood, belongings, and other possible evidence A set of markers appears to be alongside fresh tire tracks, possibly from the suspect's vehicle.

Debris such as cardboard, rubber tires, and broken bottles littered the area near Lessing Avenue and Shadow Mountain Road, where authorities taped off the scene. It is not known yet if any of the trash is related to the deaths. Yellow tape blocked access from the nearest paved road.

Possible Scenarios

Initially, authorities discovered 5 bodies. An additional, lone body was found hundreds of yards away from the initial crime scene after the sun came up. This raises the possibility that the person survived the initial attack long enough to attempt to escape. According to the Sheriff's Department, deputies arrived in the area 15 minutes after the call was reported. It is possible, given the time frame and remote area that the final victim was able to call 911 and provide his location or was tracked to the area.

But, the Sheriff's department stated deputies were responding to a call requesting a 'wellness check' in the area. It is possible that the killers made the call themselves so that the bodies would be discovered.

Gloria Huerta, a public information officer with the Sheriff’s Department, said additional information may be shared in the coming days after the coroner takes the bodies. Huerta said she couldn’t confirm or deny whether the bodies had been burned. 

"This is a very remote desert area, and for that reason, the CHP aviation division accompanied us to the call and was able to help us in locating the scene and the decedents. Upon arriving we located multiple decedents at the scene, and investigators with our Specialized Investigation Division responded to assume the investigation. As the investigation continued, early this morning a 6th decedent was located at the scene so we have a total of 6 at this point. We have not confirmed the sex or the age of any of the decedents at this point so that information will come out as we continue the investigation as well as the cause and manner of death, so I’m not able to confirm that at this time. […] As soon as we have that information we’ll make sure to put that out to you, you can look for a press release to accompany this, it will most likely be later this evening or tomorrow sometime.”

Decca Miller, who works at Wild Desert Tours a few miles east of the 395, said there is only one home and several trails in the area of the slayings. She said the few people who live in the vicinity are aware of the crime but don’t remember seeing the 6 people that day. The closest home, a ranch that includes several motocross training tracks does not appear to have any of the illegal grow sites that other properties in the area have. The property has been listed for sale for the past two years.

A family, possibly recognizing one of the vehicles on the news, came to the crime scene in the morning and spoke to authorities.

During an interview with KTLA5, retired FBI agent Bobby Chacon stated that given the number of people, the gun violence, and charred bodies, the killings could be gang or cartel-related.

Nearby Marijuana Grows

The dirt road intersection is surrounded for miles by a flat, empty desert landscape. Aside from a couple random homes, the closest towns are around 20 miles away. Looking at the area from Google Earth, not much else can be seen, however, several miles to the south, near a recreational offroad spot called Rancho Rosas a few locations with large growing canopies can be seen. Even closer, several seemingly abandoned and destroyed illegal grow sites can be seen.

A few locations show nearly a dozen of the large greenhouse tents, surrounded by dirt berms or blackout fencing; commonly seen at illegal growing sites as opposed to legitimate agricultural farms. One of the larger cities in the area to the southeast is Adelanto, which has its own history in the marijuana industry, on both sides of the law.

Adelanto was home to the most prisons per capita, with several state and federal prisoners numbering 10% of the city's 34,000 population. A large immigration detention center is also operated in the city. The city has embraced legal pot cultivation allowing for city permits for legitimately licensed growers and retailers.

But, many of these permits were the result of bribery, with the former Mayor of Adelanto pleading guilty to federal charges in 2023. From 2015 to 2018, he had accepted at least $57,000 in bribes and kickbacks to allow permits to 'skate through the system.'

The area has been home to several large black market operations as well including one discovered after a large fire broke out at a commercial facility being used as an illegal grow house, resulting in two arrests. 

In 2022, a shooting was reported at another illegal grow property with authorities finding 29 casings at the scene. The person who called 911 told deputies that the suspects were in 3 separate vehicles when they pulled up in front of the property and started shooting at the home. Someone inside the home fired roughly 35 rounds, Sheriff's officials said.

Nearby Lancaster and other desert areas in Los Angeles County have seen record seizures of black market marijuana in recent years, including over 16 tons of plants and processed marijuana during a large Los Angeles County Sheriff bust on illegal grows in the Antelope Valley area.

The street value of the seized plants was estimated at $1.19 billion. The operation included over 400 personnel from various agencies serving 200 search warrants over several days. Authorities also seized 65 vehicles, including two water trucks, and $28,000 in cash, and made 131 arrests.

Several years ago, around 120 miles south in the desert outside of Anza-Temecula, 7 people were found murdered in the dwellings of a large illegal marijuana grow farm and processing area. There were hundreds of plants, a makeshift greenhouse, a lab for using butane to extract THC concentrate, and more than 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana. Many of the large illegal grow operation's victims were of Laotian descent or immigrants.

In 2021, Riverside County Sheriffs seized over 2 tons of plants and marijuana across 8 properties in the Anza area during a coordinated operation.

Sources KTLA5, ABC7, VVNG, San Bernardino County Sheriff, LA Times, VVDaily Press, DOJ