CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : U.S. Agent Held in Colleague’s Killing

A federal agent, hoping to “dramatize a point,” put a loaded gun to the temple of a colleague moments before the weapon fired and killed the man, a prosecutor says. Mark Herzog, 35, an eight-year veteran of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was jailed for investigation of murder. Bradford Scott Brown, 25, who had been with the bureau for a year, died at the agency’s downtown offices. Deputy Dist. Atty. John O’Mara said Brown apparently was despondent over personal problems and may have gone to Herzog for advice. O’Mara said Herzog was trying to show Brown that his problems were not so bad. Herzog put his .38-caliber revolver to Brown’s temple, his finger inside the trigger guard. It seemed like “an attempt to show him how silly or out of focus” Brown’s thoughts were, O’Mara said, and he used the gun “to dramatize that point.” Police said Herzog acknowledged holding the weapon to Brown’s head, but he said Brown grabbed for the gun and forced Herzog’s finger onto the trigger.