In a gun battle that lasted scarcely 4 ½  minutes, four Newhall California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers were killed in the 1970 “Newhall Incident,” a tragedy that would forever impact the future of American policing. 

In the minutes to midnight between April 5 and April 6, 1970, Newhall CHP Officers Walt Frago, Roger Gore, James Pence and George Alleyn were killed by a pair of career criminals during a routine traffic stop gone wrong.

The two felons, Bobby Augusta Davis and Jack Twining (spelled Twinning in some records), had met in federal prison, and when the two were released, they reunited in Houston, Texas. After skipping parole and moving out to the Los Angeles area, the men had trouble finding consistent work due to their criminal records.

Davis, 27, had entered the Marine Corps to avoid an assault with a deadly weapon charge, only to later kill a fellow Marine by age 19. By 21, Davis had continued his life of crime, landing in federal prison for bank robbery.

Starting at 16, Twining, 34, had spent most of his life going in and out of various federal prisons, including Alcatraz, for various violent crimes. He had also killed another prisoner while at the famed-Bay Area prison and had purportedly killed another man at some point during his criminal career.

Twining would later be remembered by notorious mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, whom he had met during his stint in Alcatraz, as “one of the most dangerous men I have ever known.” 

Abandoned car at the scene of the shooting. Officers examine a car believed used by the two suspects. Photo courtesy of SCV History.

“Jack knew he was never coming back to prison — told me ‘I Live to Kill’ and when I get out, if anyone orders me around, pushes me, bothers me, I’m going to kill them,” wrote Bulger in a 2016 letter.

Near their rented apartment in Long Beach, Twining and Davis scoped out potential targets for bank robbery and identified an armored truck that delivered cash to the Santa Anita Racetrack. They tracked the truck on its usual route and decided to rob it on a freeway ramp. But to accomplish their plan, they needed explosives.

The two decided a construction site north of Castaic would be their best bet to find said explosives, loading up the backseat of a red 1964 Gran Prix Pontiac with pistols, shotguns, and rifles. 

At approximately 11:22 p.m. April 5, Twining went searching for explosives and Davis waited on the shoulder of the northbound side of the interstate, until scrutiny from a nearby family with an overheated vehicle prompted him to leave the scene, whipping a u-turn across the highway and cutting off another vehicle heading southbound. 

The other vehicle, containing a U.S. Navy sailor and his wife, narrowly avoided the collision by slamming on the brakes. Irate, the other driver confronted Davis, only to be met with the business end of a .38 revolver.

At 11:36 p.m., the witness reported the incident to CHP via a phone at a service station near Violin Canyon Road in Castaic, sharing Davis’ description and license plate number with authorities.

Less than 20 minutes later at 11:54 p.m., Patrolmen Gore and Frago, having received the dispatch, had set themselves up just south of Castaic Junction, and spotted the suspect vehicle — now containing both Twining and Davis.

Gore and Frago followed the red Pontiac southbound, updating dispatch as the suspects unexpectedly exited the freeway onto Henry Mayo Drive, now Magic Mountain Parkway. 

Patrolmen Pence and Alleyn, who had prepared to cut off the suspects three miles south of the traffic stop at Valencia Boulevard, picked up the update from Gore and Frago and started driving north to provide backup.

The Pontiac occupied by the two suspects pulled partially into the parking lot of J’s Restaurant and a Standard gas station, which sat on the corner of what is now The Old Road and Magic Mountain Parkway.

At 11:55 p.m., the two officers began conducting a traffic stop, directing the two suspects to exit the vehicle at gunpoint. Davis complied, placing his hands on the roof of the vehicle in a classic search position. Twining ignored the callouts. 

Gore exited the patrol car to apprehend the two suspects. While Gore was patting down Davis, Frago covered him with a shotgun.

Then a moment of distraction. Frago approached the passenger side of the Pontiac, allowing his shotgun to leave firing position as he reached over to open Twining’s door. Suddenly, Twining threw open the door and fired two fatal .357 Magnum rounds from a Smith & Wesson Model 28 at Frago, striking him in the chest. He then attempted to fire on Gore, missing twice.

Distracted by the gunfire from Twining, Gore, who had holstered his weapon to perform the body search, was unable to react in time as Davis pulled out another Smith & Wesson revolver from his waistband, shooting him twice at close range with .38 Special cartridges.

Frago and Gore died instantly.

It was now 11:56 p.m. on April 5, less than one minute after the Pontiac had rolled to a stop. Two officers were down, both suspects were armed, and backup had arrived at the scene. 

“Newhall, 78-12! 11-99! Shots fired. J’s Restaurant parking lot.” Pence sent this desperate dispatch message as he and Alleyn pulled into the gas station driveway and saw their two comrades lying on the pavement.

A 4 ½ minute gun battle took place between the suspects crouched behind the Pontiac and the two officers. Despite their best efforts, both Pence and Alleyn were shot and killed during the battle with the suspects.

In the midst of the shootout, Gary Dean Kness, a former U.S. Marine, was driving by J’s Restaurant on his way to work when he saw the gun battle taking place at the Standard gas station.

As Kness witnessed Officer Alleyn fall to the ground, Kness stopped his car and ran 70 yards to the officer’s side, and tried to pull him out of the line of fire.

While helping the officer, Kness saw Davis approaching him with a sawed-off shotgun.

Kness instinctively picked up the officer’s shotgun and attempted to fire at the suspect, but the gun did not fire. He then picked up Alleyn’s service revolver and was able to fire off a shot at the suspect, who subsequently retreated back into the Pontiac.

The two criminals fled in their vehicle as the third and fourth CHP vehicles arrived at 11:59 p.m. The officers had driven over 130 miles per hour at times to respond in only 3 ½ minutes from their original locations on San Fernando Road (now Railroad Avenue) in the area near the Saugus Cafe.

April 6, 1970 — Sheriff deputies strike a position outside the home of Glenn S. Hoag, where killer Jack Twinning holed up.

By 12 a.m. April 6, four officers lay dead, Alleyn succumbing to his injuries only moments after help arrived. Never before had so many officers been killed in one incident, and to this day remains one of the deadliest incidents in the history of California law enforcement.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the two suspects ditched their car barely 150 yards away, and fled in opposite directions on foot via the dry Santa Clara riverbed, leading to a nine-hour search in two locations for the men.

Twining fled southwest, and ended up barricaded in the home of Steven and Betty Jean Hoag on Pico Canyon Road near the Old Road, taking Mr. Hoag hostage for several hours before eventually releasing him.

At about 10 a.m. the morning of April 6, Twining shot himself to death with a weapon he had taken from Officer Frago as the home was breached by law enforcement.

Davis headed up San Francisquito Canyon Road, where he was captured by law enforcement via a roadblock in the pre-dawn hours.

He was eventually convicted on four counts of murder and sentenced to death by gas chamber, but his sentence was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty.

Davis was incarcerated at several facilities, including Folsom State Prison, Pelican Bay State Prison, and finally Kern Valley Prison in August 2008.

Davis died in August 2009 of an apparent suicide.

Today, the building that once housed J’s Restaurant has been demolished to make way for a coffee shop and fast food location. The parking lot has been built over and covered up by a hotel.

Multiple changes to procedure and training were implemented in law enforcement agencies across the nation, many citing the Newhall Incident as a direct turning point in their training programs.

 The California Highway Patrol created the following training acronym:

• N  –   Never approach a danger situation until you are adequately prepared and supported.
• E   –  Evaluate the offense, determine if you might be dealing with something more dangerous than it looks.
• W  –   Wait for backup.
• H  –  Have a plan (in other words, don’t just wade into a situation without planning every move).
• A  –   Always maintain the advantage over the opponent.
• L   –   Look for the unusual.
• L   –   Leave the scene when in doubt. 

A brick memorial at the modern-day Newhall Area CHP Office, just one mile north of the scene, pays tribute to Officers James Pence (6885), Roger Gore (6547), Walt Frago (6520) and George Alleyn (6290).

In 2008, a section of Interstate 5 between the Rye Canyon Road overpass and Magic Mountain Parkway was dedicated to the officers who died during the Newhall Incident.

A memorial honoring CHP officers Alleyn, Fargo, Gore and Pence who lost their lives in the infamous “Newhall Incident” sits in front of the CHP Newhall station on the Old Road. The memorial is only a mile away from where the deputies were shot and killed in 1970. Photo by Jamie Araki/KHTS News.

Kness was honored twice by the CHP for his heroic efforts to save the officer, both on June 5, 1970, at the Memorial Wall dedication, and again in 2008.

Ed. Note: Some of the above information was provided to KHTS by the California Highway Patrol. Other details are courtesy of “Newhall Shooting – A Tactical Analysis: Survival Lessons from One of Law Enforcement’s Deadliest Shootings” by Mike Wood, which this author found invaluable.

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