Tragedy at Newhall – Part 2

The gunfight that unfolded in the dark along Interstate 5 on April 5, 1970 did not begin with a traffic stop. It began an hour earlier and thirty miles north, inside a small gas station in Gorman. Jack Twinning and Bobby Davis had already pointed their guns at a service station attendant and forced him to hand over the cash from the register. They left the scene at speed in a white Pontiac LeMans. The attendant called the California Highway Patrol. A be-on-the-lookout bulletin went out. It was not detailed. Two males. White Pontiac. Considered armed. No one knew the depth of the danger.

Jack Twinning was the older of the two suspects. He was thirty five, a convicted felon, and a man who had spent his adult life drifting between jobs, petty crimes, and small bursts of violence. He had obtained several guns from a previous burglary, including a Smith and Wesson revolver and a sawed off shotgun. Friends described him as a man who felt trapped by the world. He told more than one person that he would never go back to prison.

Bobby Davis was younger. He had a wife and a newborn son in Fresno. He had no direction and no discipline. He had fallen in with Twinning and followed him into a violent world he did not fully understand. He carried a snub nose revolver. He had a dangerous mix of fear and false confidence. He tried to keep up with Twinning and rarely understood what he was getting into.

At 11:54 p.m., Officers Walt Frago and Roger Gore spotted a white Pontiac matching the description northbound on Interstate 5. The car drifted toward the shoulder and stopped under a roadside lamp. Everything seemed normal. Routine. Predictable. But nothing about Twinning and Davis was routine.

What followed was the short, violent encounter portrayed in the fictionalized narrative. The key facts are well established: Gore was shot first. Frago was killed moments later while trying to operate his shotgun. Officers James Pence and George Alleyn arrived seconds after the first shots were fired and were immediately pinned down. Both were killed in a relentless exchange of gunfire that lasted less than five minutes.

The gunfight was not long or complex. It was fast, chaotic, and one-sided. The officers were outgunned, outmaneuvered, and taken by surprise by two suspects who were desperate and experienced with violence. The loss was immediate and total.

After killing all four CHP officers, Twinning and Davis reloaded, scanned the highway for more units, and heard the wail of sirens approaching from the north. Backup was on the way. They had seconds, not minutes. They fled. Shortly after crossing the freeway, the two men split up.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department intercepted Davis a few hours later in a camper he had stolen after assaulting its owner. His guns were empty. Cornered and exhausted, he surrendered without a fight. A jury later sentenced him to death for the murders of the four CHP officers, but the sentence was commuted to life without parole after changes to California’s capital-punishment laws. Davis spent the next four decades in state prison. In 2009, guards found him dead in his cell in what was ruled a suicide.

Twinning fled in the opposite direction and forced his way into a nearby home, taking the homeowner hostage. Deputies and LAPD officers surrounded the house and spent hours negotiating with him. When gas rounds were fired into the home and officers moved to breach, Twinning retreated to a back room and killed himself with the shotgun he had taken from Officer Frago.

Deputies employ tear gas in their standoff with Jack Twinning 

The Newhall Incident reshaped American policing. The aftermath produced sweeping changes in training, tactics, firearms procedures, and officer safety protocols. The CHP re-evaluated everything from traffic-stop positioning to shotgun loading, handcuffing procedures, ammunition carriage, weapon retention, and the structure of its academy.

The lessons of that night are still taught in law enforcement academies across the country. Four young officers died in less than five minutes. Their loss changed a profession.

And the highway where they fell still looks quiet on most nights, with the same wind and the same open fields. But the story of Newhall remains, carried forward by every officer who learns from the sacrifice of Frago, Gore, Pence, and Alleyn.

The Legacy of Newhall

The investigation that followed the shootout at Newhall exposed a long chain of procedural gaps, training scars, and equipment limitations. It did not question the courage of the officers. It questioned the systems that were supposed to support them.

Training at the time emphasized marksmanship in controlled settings but did not prepare officers for the chaos of actual gunfights. Reloading drills were done on clean ranges. Empty brass was picked up and placed in pockets. Officers sometimes performed that same motion under stress. Two spent casings were later found in Pence’s pocket. There was no intent behind it. It was a habit formed on a range that carried into a fight.

Officers did not wear body armor during routine patrols. It was considered bulky and unnecessary. None of the four officers at Newhall had vests. At least three rounds that proved fatal would likely have been stopped by modern armor.

Shotguns were carried with empty chambers. The policy was based on concerns about accidental discharges. Frago never managed to rack his. The weapon required a deep, deliberate pump. Under stress he short stroked the action. The shotgun never entered the fight.

Communication between units was limited and slow. The initial call did not convey the full danger. There was no standardized high-risk stop protocol. Today’s felony stop procedures, which use distance, lighting, and multiple lines of cover, did not yet exist.

Newhall changed all of that.

Departments across the country rewrote their training programs. Range work became more realistic. Reloading drills were done under movement and stress. Instructors taught officers to drop empty casings and get the gun back into the fight. Agencies invested in better lighting, improved radios, and more consistent backup protocols. Body armor became mandatory. High risk stop procedures were formalized and taught nationwide. Revolvers were eventually phased out in favor of semiautomatic pistols with higher capacity and easier reloads.

Officers handle weapons used by suspects

The incident also changed the culture. Officers were encouraged to take officer survival seriously. They were taught that dangerous situations could escalate without warning. They were taught to keep distance, maintain visual control of all occupants, and never approach a vehicle in a relaxed posture when a suspect was believed to be armed.

Newhall became a case study taught in classrooms, academies, and tactical courses for decades. Instructors used it to remind recruits that the job can turn violent in an instant. They used it to reinforce discipline in the small tasks that keep officers alive. They used it to show how courage alone cannot overcome poor tactics.

Preparing for the Unexpected

The tragedy at Newhall shows how life can change in an instant. A calm drive home from work can spiral into chaos without warning. The world is a dangerous place, and potential threats can come from anywhere. Whether it is violent crime, a natural disaster, or terrorism, the ability to react quickly and appropriately can make the difference between life and death. Survival often depends on how well we prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the unexpected.

Think of Gary Kness. On that cold night in California, when gunfire rang out across the highway, he did not hesitate. He ran straight into the chaos with no obligation to do so, risking his life to help wounded officers. He had no plan, no backup, and no time to think. In a moment where most people would have frozen, he acted. We can all learn from Kness and his response to danger. He was not expecting to face that situation, but it is clear that he was mentally prepared for whatever might come his way. We should all aim to prepare ourselves to rise to the occasion when we are called to protect our loved ones or innocent people who cannot protect themselves.

The first step in preparing for anything is accepting that danger can appear without warning. You may be called upon when an intruder breaks into your home, when a fight erupts at a family gathering, or when you witness a terrible accident. Most of us will not see these moments coming. You will not have time to weigh your options once disaster strikes.

Your mental and physical fitness will be your best assets in a crisis. Survival is not only about having the right gear or training, although both are important. What truly matters is your ability to endure hardship, push through pain, and stay clear-headed when everything around you seems to be falling apart. This applies not only in the wilderness but in the face of human threats. You need the strength to stand firm, the discipline to stay focused, and the courage to act when it matters most.

Fear and hesitation can paralyze people in moments of extreme danger. One of the most effective tools for mental preparation is visualization. Great athletes and warriors have used visualization for generations. When you rehearse a scenario in your mind, you teach your brain to respond faster and with more confidence when it happens in real life. You should not wait for a crisis to practice. You should practice before the crisis arrives.

Take a few moments each day to picture yourself in threatening situations. Visualize what you would do if someone broke into your home. What would you reach for? Where would you move? What would you say? How would you position yourself? See yourself staying calm, making smart decisions, and acting swiftly to protect your family. Visualization is not simply imagining danger. It is training your brain to recognize a threat, choose the correct response, and eliminate hesitation.

Of course, mental preparation alone is not enough. You must be physically capable of responding to danger. The ability to act with speed and force depends on how well-conditioned your body is to handle intense stress. Strength training, endurance work, and martial arts all build the physical and mental resilience required to operate under pressure. Firearms training adds another layer of capability. Physical fitness is what allows you to move, think, and fight effectively when the moment demands it.

The last piece of the puzzle is the willingness to act. Most people freeze or flee if they have not prepared themselves for such a moment. Some, however, run toward the chaos instead of away from it. People like Gary Kness.

The truth is that this does not require heroics. Even if others may see it that way. I doubt Kness thought about heroism as he ran across that freeway. He was simply prepared, mentally and physically, to do what needed to be done when his moment arrived. That is what we must train ourselves to do. And that does not always mean using force. Sometimes it means staying calm enough to make good decisions and taking decisive action to protect the people around you. Sometimes, however, there is no option other than violence, and we must be prepared for that possibility as well. Being ready to fight is often the best way to prevent a fight.

I pray that you never face a moment where you must use violence to protect yourself or others. Life does not always give us the luxury of choice. The unexpected waits around every corner, and you should ask yourself whether you will be ready when disaster strikes. Will you have the mental toughness to make the right decision? Will you have the physical ability to act? Will you have the clarity to protect the people who are counting on you?

The time to prepare is now. Start training. Start visualizing. Start building your mental toughness. You never know when your moment will come, but when it does, you will be ready to face it head-on.

Author Bio:

Byron Owen is a Reconnaissance Marine with tours as both a platoon commander and commanding officer at the elite 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. He also had the honor of commanding several intelligence and cyber units to include Combat Mission Team One, Cyberspace Warfare Task Group 1, and 3d Radio Battalion. He writes about influence warfare and cyber at keyterraincyber.com, and about leadership at broadswordsix.com