California corrections officials are investigating the death of David Long, 26, as a homicide after staff at High Desert State Prison say they watched two other incarcerated men attack him with an improvised weapon on a recreation yard on Sunday morning, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced.

Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, news release, Nov. 8, 2026

The attack happened on Sunday, November 8, at approximately 11:03 a.m. on the Facility C recreational yard at the prison near Susanville, in Lassen County. Staff observed Bryan Cook, 51, and Rodney Chweya, 31, attacking Long with an improvised weapon, CDCR said. Staff issued verbal orders and used chemical agents to quell the incident.

Source: CDCR

Thirty-seven minutes from attack to pronouncement

Staff immediately activated 911 and began life-saving measures. Long was transported to the prison's treatment and triage area, where life-saving efforts continued, but medical staff pronounced him deceased at 11:40 a.m. — 37 minutes after the attack was observed. His next of kin has been notified, CDCR said.

Source: CDCR

The two men held, and the weapon recovered

Cook and Chweya were placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the High Desert State Prison Investigative Services Unit, and an incarcerated-person-manufactured weapon was recovered at the scene, CDCR said. Neither Cook nor Chweya sustained injuries. The Office of the Inspector General — the independent body that oversees California's prison system — has been notified. CDCR has announced no criminal charges in the case so far; the department says the death is being investigated as a homicide, and Cook and Chweya are the two men its staff say they observed carrying out the attack.

Source: CDCR

Who David Long was, in the prison record

Long was received into CDCR custody from Los Angeles County on April 19, 2024. He was serving life without the possibility of parole for multiple counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, with firearm enhancements, the department said. He was 26 years old.

Source: CDCR

The records of the two accused men

Cook, 51, was received from San Joaquin County on July 15, 2005. He is serving two terms of 15 years to life for second-degree murder, plus 11 years for voluntary manslaughter, CDCR said — meaning he has been in prison for more than 21 years. Chweya, 31, was received from San Diego County on May 29, 2020, and is serving seven years for attempted second-degree murder.

Source: CDCR

The second California prison homicide investigation in four days

Sunday's killing is the second death CDCR has announced it is investigating as a homicide inside a California prison this week. On Thursday, November 5, staff at California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom found Dennis Romero, 49, unresponsive in his cell at 2:51 p.m.; paramedics pronounced him deceased at 3:27 p.m. CDCR said Romero's cellmate, Jacob Forbes, 23, was placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by that prison's Investigative Services Unit and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. The two prisons and the two cases are separate, and officials have not suggested any connection between them.

Source: CDCR, news release, Nov. 6, 2026 (California State Prison, Sacramento)

What happens next

The investigation now sits with High Desert's Investigative Services Unit, with the Inspector General notified, as is standard in an in-custody death investigation. CDCR's announcement does not name a timeline, does not announce charges against Cook or Chweya, and does not say whether movement on Facility C has been restricted while investigators work. Any decision to file new criminal charges arising from a prison killing rests with prosecutors after the institutional investigation. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when CDCR or Lassen County authorities release further findings.