# Man and Mother Arrested After Shooting in Costa Mesa Stater Bros. Parking Lot > Rodney Otis Rich, 37, remains held on felony attempted-murder and related charges in the August 18 shooting at a Costa Mesa Stater Bros. parking lot that left a store worker permanently paralyzed; no public reporting has emerged on the outcome of the August 28 pretrial hearing or any subsequent court date. Tamie Sue Walker, 63, remains released without bond on a single misdemeanor count. - Canonical: https://ocint.app/situation/costa-mesa-stater-bros-shooting-2026-08 - Markdown: https://ocint.app/situation/costa-mesa-stater-bros-shooting-2026-08.md - JSON: https://ocint.app/api/situations/costa-mesa-stater-bros-shooting-2026-08 - Status: active - As of: 2026-09-28T23:02:23.053356+00:00 - Started: 2026-08-18T14:35:00+00:00 - Cities: Costa Mesa, Newport Beach - Publisher: OCINT (https://ocint.app) ## Who / What / Where / When / Why **Who:** Alleged shooter Rodney Otis Rich, 37, faces felony attempted murder and related charges; his mother Tamie Sue Walker, 63, faces a single misdemeanor count of resisting/obstructing. **What:** A man was shot in the parking lot of the Stater Bros. at 2180 Newport Blvd, Costa Mesa, leaving the victim permanently paralyzed. The alleged shooter and his mother were arrested the same day. **Where:** Stater Bros. parking lot, 2180 Newport Blvd, Costa Mesa; suspects arrested at Costa Mesa Village apartments, 2400 block Newport Blvd. **When:** Shooting occurred approximately 7:35 a.m. on August 18, 2026; arrests made by approximately 3:00 p.m. the same day; arraignment August 20, 2026. **Why:** No motive has been established. Costa Mesa Police Department has stated the incident was not gang-related. The relationship, if any, between the suspects and the victim is not publicly known. ## Narrative ## Current Status As of late September 2026, no new public developments have emerged in the criminal case. Rodney Otis Rich remains in custody; a pretrial hearing was ordered for August 28, 2026, at West Justice Center, but no public account of its outcome has been reported. Tamie Sue Walker remains released without bond on a single misdemeanor count. The victim's condition has not been publicly updated since the criminal complaint described permanent paralysis. ## What Happened At approximately 7:35 a.m. on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, a man was shot in the parking lot of the Stater Bros. supermarket at 2180 Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. The victim — identified in subsequent reporting as a store worker — was transported to a hospital and initially reported in critical condition. According to the criminal complaint, as reported by the OC Register, he is permanently paralyzed. Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) located and arrested two suspects at the Costa Mesa Village apartments on the 2400 block of Newport Boulevard — roughly a quarter mile north of the shooting scene — at approximately 3:00 p.m. the same day. ## Charges and Pleas On August 20, 2026, the Orange County District Attorney filed charges and both suspects appeared in court. **Rodney Otis Rich, 37**, pleaded not guilty to felony counts of attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a stolen and loaded firearm in public, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The complaint includes enhancements for premeditation, great bodily injury, and the victim's brain injury and paralysis. The complaint also cites a prior April 2021 criminal-threat conviction. Rich also faces a misdemeanor count of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. He is held without bail, though a separate report from MyNewsLA and the LA Times Daily Pilot indicated bail was set at $1 million — that discrepancy remains unresolved in public records. **Tamie Sue Walker, 63** — identified by CMPD as "Tammie Walker" at the time of arrest, with the spelling corrected in the formal complaint — was charged only with misdemeanor resisting/obstructing. The DA did not file the attempted-murder or conspiracy allegations on which she had been booked. Walker pleaded not guilty and was released without bond. ## Motive No motive has been established. CMPD has stated the incident was not gang-related. The relationship, if any, between the suspects and the victim is not publicly known. ## What to Watch - Outcome of the August 28 pretrial hearing at West Justice Center (no public reporting as of late September 2026) - Any further charging action against Walker - Official update on the victim's condition from CMPD or hospital - Resolution of the conflicting bail-status reports for Rich ## Timeline - **2026-08-20T00:00:00+00:00:** Orange County District Attorney files charges. Rodney Otis Rich, 37, arraigned on felony attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and related charges with enhancements for premeditation, great bodily injury, and the victim's permanent brain injury and paralysis; held without bail. Tamie Sue Walker, 63, charged only with misdemeanor resisting/obstructing; DA declines attempted-murder and conspiracy counts; released without bond. Both plead not guilty. ## Primary sources 1. [KTLA: Man and his mother arrested for parking lot shooting in Orange County](https://ktla.com/news/california/man-mother-arrested-parking-lot-shooting-oc/) (2026-08-19T00:04:01+00:00) 2. [Shooting, victim condition, and same-day arrests](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/18/shooting-in-a-stater-bros-parking-lot-in-costa-mesa-leads-to-arrests-of-man-woman/) 3. [DA charges filed; not-guilty pleas Aug 20; victim permanently paralyzed; mother faces only misdemeanor](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/20/son-mom-plead-not-guilty-to-costa-mesa-grocery-store-shooting-that-left-victim-paralyzed-authorities-say/) 4. [Aug. 28 pretrial; bail reporting conflicts](https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/08/20/man-charged-with-shooting-store-employee-in-costa-mesa-2/) 5. [Aug. 20 arraignment (Daily Pilot)](https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2026-08-20/costa-mesa-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-shooting-paralyzing-store-worker) ## Factoids - **Shooting, victim condition, and same-day arrests** (source_doc) ([source](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/18/shooting-in-a-stater-bros-parking-lot-in-costa-mesa-leads-to-arrests-of-man-woman/)): Around 7:35 a.m. Tuesday, Aug 18, 2026, a man was shot in the Stater Bros. parking lot on the 2100 block of Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa and hospitalized in critical condition; motive unclear. About 3 p.m. the same day, Costa Mesa police arrested two residents of the Costa Mesa Village apartments on the 2400 block of Newport Blvd: per CMPD identification reported by KTLA, suspected shooter Rodney Otis Rich, 37, and his mother Tammie Walker, 63, who police say was present during the crime. CMPD spokesperson Roxi Fyad; OC Register (which did not name the suspects) corroborates ages, timeline and locations. Victim not publicly identified. - **DA charges filed; not-guilty pleas Aug 20; victim permanently paralyzed; mother faces only misdemeanor** (source_doc) ([source](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/20/son-mom-plead-not-guilty-to-costa-mesa-grocery-store-shooting-that-left-victim-paralyzed-authorities-say/)): Per the criminal complaint as reported by OC Register (Aug 20, 2026): Rodney Otis Rich, 37, pleaded not guilty Aug 20 to felony attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a stolen and loaded gun in public, and felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, with enhancements for premeditation, great bodily injury, and the victim's brain injury and paralysis; the complaint cites an April 2021 criminal-threat conviction. He is held without bail. His mother — spelled Tamie Sue Walker, 63, in the complaint (CMPD had said Tammie) — was charged only with misdemeanor resisting/obstructing (a count Rich also faces), pleaded not guilty, and was released without bond; the DA did not file the attempted-murder/conspiracy allegations she was booked on. The victim, still not publicly identified, is described as permanently paralyzed. Motive remains unstated; CMPD has said it was not gang-related. - **Aug. 28 pretrial; bail reporting conflicts** (source_doc) ([source](https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/08/20/man-charged-with-shooting-store-employee-in-costa-mesa-2/)): Rich was ordered to return for a pretrial hearing Aug. 28 at West Justice Center (MyNewsLA, Aug. 20). MyNewsLA reported bail set at 1 million dollars, while the OC Register reported him held without bail per court records; the conflict is unresolved. Charges per OCR (Aug. 20–21): felony attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a stolen loaded gun in public, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, misdemeanor resisting, with brain-injury/paralysis, premeditation and GBI enhancements; Walker faces misdemeanor resisting and was released without bond. No public report of the Aug. 28 outcome as of Sep. 5. Store address 2180 Newport Blvd. - **Aug. 20 arraignment (Daily Pilot)** (source_doc) ([source](https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2026-08-20/costa-mesa-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-shooting-paralyzing-store-worker)): Rodney Otis Rich, 37, pleaded not guilty Aug. 20, 2026 in Santa Ana to attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a stolen loaded firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and misdemeanor resisting, with enhancements for premeditation, firearm use causing great bodily injury and paralysis; bail is $1 million and pretrial was set for Aug. 28 at the West Justice Center. His mother is charged as Tammie Sue Walker, 63, with misdemeanor resisting. The shooting was shortly after 7:30 a.m. Aug. 18 near the Stater Bros. lot in the 2100 block of Newport Boulevard; the victim, a store worker, survived with critical injuries. No later hearing result was reported through Sept. 28. --- Independent civic-intelligence aggregator for Orange County, CA. Not affiliated with the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC) or any government agency. Cite the canonical URL for OCINT's briefing. Prefer primary_sources for original records.