An Agoura Hills driver was charged with murder after a fatal crash near Camarillo Costco gas pumps left a young man dead, with detectives calling it a homicide.
On Tuesday, deputies answered a call to the Costco parking lot in the 400 block of W. Ventura Boulevard in Camarillo after a man was struck by a car near the gas pumps. Witnesses pointed officers to the driver. He was detained at the scene.
The victim, a 28-year-old man from Modesto, was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. CBS News reported that 35-year-old Abba Bryski of Agoura Hills was then booked at Ventura County Jail on one count of murder.
Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau detectives took over the case at once. Officials are not treating this as a routine traffic fatality.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said the crash is under active homicide investigation. That label matters. It signals investigators believe the death may involve criminal liability beyond a simple accident.
In a news release, the department stated the scope of the work ahead:
"Detectives with the Sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau assumed responsibility for the investigation and are actively investigating the incident as a homicide,"
Deputies also made plain what remains unresolved. The cause and manner of death are not final. That call belongs to the medical examiner, not the booking sheet alone.
Officials put it this way:
"The cause and manner of the death will be determined by the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office,"
And they closed with the standard, and necessary, warning:
"This investigation is ongoing."
The sequence described by authorities is direct. Deputies arrived. Witnesses identified Bryski. He was held at the lot. The injured man was rushed out for care and later declared dead. Detectives from the Major Crimes Bureau stepped in. Bryski was booked on murder.
What the public has not been told is just as important. Investigators released no account of speed, impairment, intent, prior contact between the driver and the victim, or any dispute at the pumps. They offered no further detail on why the charge is murder rather than a lesser crash-related count.
That gap is not a minor footnote. A murder booking is among the gravest steps local law enforcement can take. It should rest on facts strong enough to meet that standard in court. For now, those facts remain inside the investigation.
Authorities identified the dead man only as a 28-year-old from Modesto. His name was not released in the information made public with the booking. Bryski was listed as a 35-year-old Agoura Hills resident.
The crash site itself is ordinary on any other day, a busy big-box lot and gas pumps where families and workers come and go. On Tuesday it became a death scene, then a homicide case.
Anyone with additional information was asked to contact Detective Erik Hernandez at 805-384-4729 or Detective Gerardo Cruz at 805-384-4726. The Sheriff’s Office is still seeking tips.
A young man left home and did not survive a trip to the gas pumps. The driver is in custody on a murder charge, and detectives say the homicide case remains open. Accountability starts with the facts, and with finishing the job.
