Couple Parked on Huntington Beach Street Shot to Death

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  A man and a woman were shot to death at close range, allegedly by her husband, as they sat in a car Thursday evening on Bolsa Chica Street, police said. The gunman fled in a red pickup and remains at large.

Patricia Beaudin and a man whose name was not released pending notification of his family were pulled to the side of the road between Edinger and McFadden avenues when Gary Oscar Beaudoin, Patricia’s husband, apparently approached the vehicle on foot and shot them with a 9-millimeter handgun, Lt. Patrick Gilldea said.

Neighbors heard three shots fired about 5:45 p.m. and rushed to the street, where they found the couple bleeding in the white pickup truck. Witnesses said they saw a man about 35 years old run from the scene to a red pickup truck and drive north on Bolsa Chica.

“I saw a guy walk back from the white truck and it looked like he was in a hurry,” said Rick Greensky, who leaped over a fence to see what had happened after hearing the gunshots. “He got in his truck and took off real fast.”

Witnesses described the gunman as redheaded with a mustache and possibly a beard, wearing a white T-shirt and faded jeans. Police said Beaudoin is 31 and driving a red 1987 Chevrolet Blazer, license plate 2XCM753. Police said Beaudoin is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds.

As police investigated the scene, the bodies remained in the truck late into the evening.

The dead woman’s head was in the man’s lap and her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, witnesses said. Both died at the scene.

“It was pretty gruesome, there was blood all over. All over the street, leaking right through the bottom of the truck,” said Roy Gerberick, whose back yard is just a few feet from where the red truck was parked. “The shots were not random shots, they were pointed and aimed.”

Neighbors said they believe the shooting emanated from a love triangle of sorts. They said the woman and her baby were moving into the man’s house at 5042 Dovewood Drive--about two blocks south of the shooting--on Thursday, and they suspected that the gunman might have been a former boyfriend or husband.

Indeed, the driveway at 5042 Dovewood Drive was filled with boxes and furniture Thursday night, including a children’s bed, a highchair and a toy Jeep. Police said the baby girl, age 1 1/2, is safe with relatives.

Wendy Grinolds, 23, who lives on Dovewood Drive, said she saw the couple and a third man talking on the front lawn when she came home from work about 5 p.m. Thursday. The white truck was parked on the lawn and a red truck was parked in the driveway, Grinolds said.

Neighbors in this quiet, middle-class neighborhood of one-story tract homes on cul-de-sacs said the male victim was a quiet, clean-cut man who moved into the neighborhood about three months ago, and that the female victim visited often with her baby.

“Things like this just don’t happen here in Huntington Beach,” said a clearly shaken Gerberick, who videotaped the victims for the police. “This is a quiet bedroom community.”

Barbara Reid, who lives next door to the male victim’s house, came home from work to find her driveway roped off and police swarming her neighborhood.

“My heart is just beating so hard,” she said as she stood outside talking to other neighbors. “It’s very upsetting, very, very sad. This is totally out of character for this neighborhood, totally out of line.”

Walt Frazier, a neighbor, said the male victim was a firefighter, as are his two male house mates. Frazier said he and the man sometimes drank a beer and talked boating together.

“This is a real shock to us,” said Frazier, who has lived in the neighborhood for 31 years. “Nothing like this has ever happened.”