California Sniper Kills Two

Apr. 25, 1965 - A young sniper killed two persons and wounded six others this morning by firing a high-powered rifle at Highway 101 traffic from a bluff overlooking the freeway 10 miles south of Santa Maria, Calif. Five-year-old Kevin Reida, shot in the head, was in critical condition after brain surgery at Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara. He was not expected to live.

The sniper, 16-year-old Michael Andrew Clark, was found dead later of a gunshot wound between the eyes after a prolonged gun battle with peace officers. Clark, a junior at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif., apparently took his own life.

Shot to death by the sniper were Joel Kocab, 28, of West Los Angeles, and Charles Hogan, 21, of San Luis Obispo.

In addition to the persons wounded by the sniper’s bullets, six others riding down the freeway-turned-shooting gallery were cut by bullet-shattered window glass.

In the two-hour early morning burst of violence, bullets hit at least seven autos, including a Santa Maria police patrol car, two trucks, and an ambulance.

More than 50 Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies, highway patrolmen, and Santa Maria policemen converged on the area. At least 10, armed with rifles, fired round after round at the sniper in the tall grass — exposing themselves to his return fire — at 200 yards’ range.

The youth, crawling stealthily in the high grass, took full advantage of the natural cover and of the promontory from which he could fire down on his targets.

Forrest Clark, head of the Clark Manufacturing Co. of Long Beach, and his wife Joyce, a former Long Beach schoolteacher, drove to Santa Maria after the sniper was tentatively identified as their won.

They identified Michael’s shoes, his rifle, his broken eyeglasses, black gloves, pocketknife, and white cigarette lighter with a “Playboy” bunny emblem on it.

Mrs. Clark reported to Long Beach police at 9:15 p.m. last night that he had left home an hour earlier in her 1960 Cadillac, taking $15 from her purse, $85 of his own money, and the parents’ gasoline credit cards.

At that time, they did not report he had taken his 6.5-mm. Swedish Mauser deer rifle with a four-power telescopic sight.

“I don’t think he had shot that rifle for three years,” the elder Clark told Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Sudlow. There had been no family argument, Clark said, and he was at a loss to explain his son’s leaving home.

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