See the update at the end of this post on more of what Paul Michael Bracamontes was up to before he was fatally shot.
ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 28, 10:52 A.M.: A 22-year-old Fullerton man who had reportedly been at a party where he was hallucinating and making comments about “zombies” and wanting a gun got a piece of one early Sunday: the bullet that took him out.
After the party, Paul Michael Bracamontes turned up yelling and screaming in the backyard of an upscale Yorba Linda home, waking the residents, according to the sheriff's department, which says the stranger was shot dead after he crashed through the rear sliding glass door and entered the residence.
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The shooter's wife was actually on the phone with a 9-1-1 dispatcher when the gunfire rang out around 3:15 a.m. Sunday from the home in the 5000 block of Wendover Road, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock told City News Service Sunday.
When deputies arrived there, the intruder was already dead inside the home from a gunshot wound. He had no relationship with the unidentified homeowners and “was a stranger to them,” Hallock said.
A statement identifying Bracamontes as the dead man that was sent by Hallock to the Weekly this morning indicated the troubled fellow continued to scream and threatened to harm the homeowner before he shattered the glass, entered the home and was shot.
“Interviews with relatives of Bracamontes revealed that he attended a party early Saturday evening,” according to today's sheriff's statement. “Relatives indicated Bracamontes was hallucinating earlier in the night and was heard making several inappropriate comments regarding 'zombies' and wanting a gun. Relatives stated that Bracamontes left the party and had not been seen or heard from since.”
An autopsy on Bracamontes is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, but results of toxicology tests that may reveal whether or not he was under the influence at the time of the shooting will not be available for 8-12 weeks, the department notes.
Meanwhile, the investigation continues. Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714.647.7000. Anonymous tips may be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855.847.6227 or via occrimestoppers.org.
UPDATE, OCT. 29, 10:21 A.M.: Paul Michael Bracamontes was a Cal State Fullerton junior who spent part of Saturday volunteering for a charity that helps foster children, according to loved ones who add he showed no signs of anything being off with him at the time.
Later in the day would come the party where the 22-year-old hallucinated and made strange comments about zombies and wanting a gun. It appears the fatal shooting of him early Sunday was justified, according to a sheriff's official.
Court documents indicate Bracamontes was charged with public intoxication in January, but the case was later dismissed.
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