Fullerton / Santa Ana : Fund Set Up to Help Pay Wounded Lawyer’s Bills

A fund has been established to pay the medical expenses of a 29-year-old attorney who was shot and critically wounded Monday morning while attempting to audit records at a Harbor Boulevard pawn shop in Fullerton.

William M. Swain of Fullerton was acting on a court order to inventory the contents of Pahl’s Orange County Pawn Brokers, said attorney James K. Batchelor, in announcing the medical expense fund. Swain, who passed the state Bar examination in 1982, has concentrated on marriage dissolutions.

Victor Pahl was arrested in connection with the shootings of Deanna Pahl, his estranged wife, and Swain. Mrs. Pahl, 24, was in serious condition following the attack.

Swain was shot at least three times and is undergoing treatment in UCI Medical Center’s intensive care unit, Batchelor said. He said Swain is expected to remain hospitalized for at least two months, followed by a convalescence period of about six months.

Swain’s roommate, Charles Tourdot, said Swain had visited the pawn shop last week and returned Monday to check the records about 10 a.m. when he and Mrs. Pahl were shot. Tourdot said a bullet struck the young attorney in the upper left thigh, another hit his forearm and traveled to the upper arm, and a third struck him in the abdomen.

Donations should be made to the William M. Swain Medical Expense Fund, care of Batchelor, 820 N. Parton St., Suite 1, Santa Ana, 92701.