How did 2 brothers end up shot and dead in their Huntington Beach apartment? Police have made ‘no determination’

Huntington Beach police detectives are still investigating the circumstances leading to the deaths of two brothers whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds in their apartment on Taft Lane over the weekend.

Police responded to the 15700 block of Taft at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday after receiving a medical emergency call from the apartment. Officers found the two men dead inside, police spokeswoman Angela Bennett said.

The Orange County coroner’s office identified the brothers as Benjamin Ullestad, 25, and Brandon Ullestad, 22.

Officers found a handgun at the scene, but Bennett said it’s too early to say definitively whether it was used in the shooting.

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide or an accident, Bennett said.

“The investigation is ongoing, so no determination has been made yet,” she said Tuesday.

However, police “do not believe there are any outstanding suspects,” she said.

Benjamin Ullestad was a legal assistant at Seastrom Seastrom & Tuttle, a Newport Beach family law firm, according to his Facebook page. Representatives of the firm did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Both brothers attended Cal State Long Beach, according to their Facebook pages. The university would not verify that Tuesday.

Photos posted to Benjamin Ullestad’s Facebook page show him riding a dirt bike; others show him shooting a handgun at a firing range and posing with a rifle in the desert.

Brandon Ullestad’s Facebook page also has photos of him shooting and posing with a rifle.

At the apartment Tuesday, the only indication of the shooting was the presence of a representative of the Bio-One crime scene cleaning service.

A man who declined to give his name but identified himself as the owner of the building wore surgical gloves as he loaded full trash bags into the back of an SUV.

The open door to the second-story apartment was adorned with an autumn-themed wreath bearing plastic leaves and pumpkins. A photo of a blond woman with two young boys posing on a rock at a beach hung on the wall near the door.

The building owner said the brothers’ mother, who lived with them at the apartment, was in Tennessee when the shooting occurred.

A DMV registration certificate issued to Brandon Ullestad for a 2002 Ford Mustang GT and a receipt dated June 28 for a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun from firearms manufacturer Springfield Armory sat on a table next to the doorway.

Neighbors said Tuesday that they remembered how one of the brothers often would wave as he backed the Mustang out of the garage.

Benjamin Price, 42, who lives about a block from the apartment, said Monday that the case is out of character for the neighborhood — a tidy pair of cul-de-sacs next to Marina Park.

Aside from an occasional scuffle at the park, Price said he couldn’t recall any significant incident in the 10 years he’s lived in his home on Cross Drive.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anything like this happening,” he said. “For the most part, it’s really quiet.”

Another Cross Drive resident, Peter Buchmueller, 72, said he saw “at least 12 police cars” respond to the shooting on Sunday.

“It’s terrible,” he said.

Fry and Money are Daily Pilot staff writers. Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.

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