Man Charged With Filming Himself Killing Homeless Man, Police Say

Crime & Safety

Man Charged With Filming Himself Killing Homeless Man, Police Say The Orange County man was charged for shooting and killing a homeless man he had just woken up for blocking a sidewalk while sleeping.

An Orange County man was charged with felony voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing a homeless man he had just woken up for blocking the sidewalk while he was sleeping, the Orange County District Attorney's Office reported. (Renee Schiavone/Patch)

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — An Orange County man was charged with felony voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing a homeless man he had just woken up for blocking the sidewalk while he was sleeping, the Orange County District Attorney's Office reported.

Garden Grove resident Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, was also charged with one felony enhancement of personal use of a firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 21 years in state prison if convicted on all charges, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

On Sept. 28 at around 3 p.m., Elliott was jogging with his two dogs while pushing a pushcart on a sidewalk in the 10400 block of Katella Avenue in Garden Grove when he came across 40-year-old Antonio Garcia Avalos, who was sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk.

Elliott is accused of using his pushcart to nudge Avalos in an attempt to wake him up to get around him. When Avalos woke up, he began yelling at Elliott to get away from him, prosecutors said.

Elliott is accused of recording Avalos and grabbing a handgun from his pushcart. He had an active concealed permit issued by the Orange County Sheriff's Department at the time of shooting.

Video taken by Elliott captured Avalos standing up and throwing a shoe at Elliott, who ducks to avoid it and shoots Avalos three times. Avalos later died from his injuries.

Elliott was arrested on a warrant Friday by the Garden Grove Police Department. He was released from custody after posting $100,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 15 in Westminster.

“This is a tragic set of circumstances that unfolded in the worst possible way over a minor inconvenience of a blocked sidewalk, and a man is dead as a result,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “This case is a stark reminder that taking the law into your own hands is never the answer and that there are consequences for your actions.”

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