Boy, 11, and Uncle Blown Away in Local Campground!

Tourists argue over campsite, 
missing whole point of camping

Morro Bay -- Putting personal safety at risk to help others was a chance Jerry Rios Jr. hoped to take when he grew up.

The 11-year-old Gardena boy had dreams of becoming either a police officer or firefighter.

But Jerry probably never thought he would endanger his life simply by entering a state park campground.

Early Sunday evening, the boy and his uncle, Stephen D. Wells, 37, of San Pedro, were shot and killed following an argument over a campsite at Morro Strand State Beach just north of Morro Bay.

“It wasn’t worth killing somebody over a camping space,” said a sobbing Rio-Cassandra Rios, Jerry’s 17-year-old sister, at the family’s Gardena home.

Wells, who was traveling with his wife, three kids and nephew, had rented a motor home for a trip through California, Oregon and Montana. He reportedly entered the campground at about 6:30 p.m. and was looking for a site for the night.

Stephen A. Deflaun, 42, of Blythe, had parked his Dodge van at a site on the ocean side of the campground. According to neighboring campers, Wells asked the man if he could have the site, which was large enough to accommodate his RV.

The two men then argued, according to sheriff’s Lt. Steve Bolts, and Wells told Deflaun he was going to report the incident to a state parks worker.

Wells drove his rented RV to the kiosk at the entrance to the park and got out. Flanked by his son and nephew, he proceeded to tell a park employee what happened.

Bolts said Deflaun then walked up to Wells, pulled a handgun out, and shot the man and his 11-year-old nephew.

Bolts said Deflaun shot Wells first and then the boy with more than one shot apiece into the upper torso. Jerry was pronounced dead at the park, Wells at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.

The suspect then reportedly went up to Wells’ RV and proceeded to talk to his wife. Bolts was unsure what he said.

The suspect then fired several shots back toward the campground, according to visitors at Morro Strand.

“Everything was crazy here,” said Manteca resident Ed Zelaya. “There were kids crying, ladies crying.”

At the campground’s entrance, a park ranger, whom sheriff’s deputies would not identify, shot and wounded Deflaun. It is unclear whether Deflaun fired at the ranger or if he only pointed his gun at him.

The ranger has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the case by the state parks internal affairs board.

Deflaun was taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, where he was recovering Monday from bullet wounds in the leg and abdomen. Hospital officials would not disclose his condition. A sheriff’s deputy is guarding the man at all times. Once he is released from the hospital, Deflaun will be booked at County Jail on suspicion of murder, authorities said.

Shots surprise campers

At Morro Strand State Beach, it is first come, first serve as far as the 83 campsites go, said state parks spokesman Dan Eller. Rangers said neither party had a reservation Sunday night, but the campground was not full.

But Deflaun had apparently parked at a prime campsite on the ocean side of the park. Neighboring campers said Wells may have wanted the spot because it was the only one large enough to fit his rented El Monte motor home.

Whatever the reason, trouble erupted quickly, alarming unsuspecting campers.

When Zelaya suddenly heard bullets flying through the campground Sunday evening, he ordered his kids to run under a bridge near their campsite. They then took refuge at a home nearby where the residents let his kids hide inside. He didn’t see the shooting.

Fran Waldon, a camper from Cave Creek, Ariz., said she initially mistook the gunfire for a car backfiring. She realized what was going on when two boys who were camping near her ran through. She grabbed her cell phone and called the police.

At the campsite next to Deflaun’s, Charles Day Jr. had just returned from a trip to the store when he overheard arguing.

The extended Day family — 13 in all, with seven children between age 2 and 13 — had arrived Sunday afternoon from Visalia and Tulare to begin a week-long beach vacation.

Monday morning after the shooting, Day was playing ball with the kids beside the camp site. Day recalled that Deflaun had pulled up in his older model van, with Colorado license plates, shortly after the Day family arrived Sunday afternoon.

Day never talked to the man or saw him clearly.

When the argument started, Day couldn’t hear the words. But he surmised that the victims wanted Deflaun’s campsite because it was the only one with a parking space large enough for their motor home.

He said the exchange never seemed to get out of control.

“They weren’t really screaming or anything,” he said.

He didn’t think anything of it until the whole family was startled by sudden popping from the entry kiosk, which is about 60 yards away and screened from their campsite by bushes.

The adults rushed the children into a trailer, and ordered them to lie flat on the floor.

“Bullets were whistling past here like crazy,” said Day Jr.

The kids initially thought it was fireworks but Charles Day Sr. immediately recognized the shots. A military veteran and former police officer, he turned to his wife, Ruby.

“Now you know what it sounds like,” he said.

The next day, the trauma seemed to have faded, and the Days were carrying on as if their beach lark was never interrupted.

“We haven’t thought about moving,” Charles Day Sr. said.

“Why let them mess up our vacation?” his wife added.

A brother who will be missed

In Rios’ home town of Gardena, where he lived with his three siblings and parents, the 11-year-old boy busied himself with soccer, football, bowling, and drawing cartoon characters.

“We were going to call them on Sunday to see how Jerry was doing, but I guess we didn’t call soon enough,” said Rio-Cassandra Rios, Jerry’s oldest sister.

On Monday she was in shock over the the shooting that took her brother’s life. Her family last saw Jerry as he boarded the RV Saturday with his cousins and aunt and uncle for their adventure across California, Oregon and Montana.

It was Jerry’s first vacation without his mother and father, but his parents believed he was unlikely to be in harm’s way on the trip.

“I thought the guy that did it had to be pretty hard-hearted and careless to do something like that,” Rio-Cassandra said. “He must have not cared about anything, or have no morals whatsoever.”

The older sister added Jerry would have been 12 years old on Aug. 12.

“If I have to go through a trial, I’ll go through a trial, because my brother deserves the best,” Rio-Cassandra said. “Taking someone’s life is very dumb, and he doesn’t have a right to do that. I hope he gets life in prison so he can think about what he did.”

— Torrance Daily Breeze Reporter Nick Green contributed to this report.