On April 21, 1958, Deputy Sheriff Robert Shultz, 35, was shot and killed while on duty in Dana Point. Deputy Shultz and Deputy Ed Johnson were on patrol when they stopped an old converted school bus from Arizona, which allegedly contained a mentally disturbed father threatening his wife, daughter and two sons.
After stopping the bus, Deputy Johnson talked the father into putting his weapon down and exiting the bus. As Deputy Johnson was talking with the father outside the bus, Deputy Shultz was fatally shot once through the heart by the older of the two sons inside the bus. Deputy Johnson was shot twice, critically. The father returned to the bus and a gunfight ensued between the men on the bus and Deputy Johnson.
Deputy Johnson radioed for assistance and eventually collapsed from his two initial wounds. When assisting officers arrived, they found the father dead. He was wounded three times by Deputy Johnson’s bullets and ultimately shot himself in the head. The older son was found with five wounds from the deputy’s weapon and later died at the hospital. The younger son was found dead with one round through the top of his head from his father’s weapon.
Deputy Ed Johnson survived the shootout, but two .22 caliber slugs remained in inaccessible parts of his back and hip.