News of Stalker’s Identity Comes in Atmosphere of Fear

Hours before Orange County and Los Angeles County sheriff’s authorities announced that they had identified the Night Stalker suspect Friday night, residents in south Orange County were taking lessons in home security and speaking anxiously of the fear that has gripped their neighborhoods.

“There’s a lot of fear and anger out there,” said Cynthia Briseno, 29, of El Toro, who helped organize a meeting of more than 100 residents with an Orange County sheriff’s official at El Toro High School Friday night. She and another neighbor passed out 500 flyers, advertising the meeting, Briseno said.

“Everybody I talked to has a gun, and they say they’d kill him (the Night Stalker) if they saw him,” she said.

As the early evening meeting began, John (Rocky) Hewitt, south county operations division commander for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, told residents to light and lock their houses. He urged them not to keep their drapes open for too long, for fear of giving the impression that their homes were empty.

Suddenly, around 9:30 p.m., Hewitt interrupted the question-and-answer session with the dramatic announcement that the Night Stalker suspect had been identified. “We don’t have the man in custody,” he said, “but I wanted you to know that . . . because it’s progress.”

The El Toro audience responded with hearty applause. Only a few miles away, the brutal attack on 29-year-old Bill Carns and his fiancee in Mission Viejo last Sunday morning was on everybody’s mind.

Dennis Mummert, 47, of Mission Viejo, who attended the El Toro meeting with his wife and 12-year-old-son, Ryan, responded to Hewitt’s news with a broad smile. He pointed to his son and said: “He feels real good about it. He’s been scared to death since it happened.” Ryan beamed in agreement.

Brad Smith, 21, of El Toro, also said the Mission Viejo attack had scared him.

“I mean, how hard is it to come up here (El Toro) and hit us?” he asked.

“We’re not that far away. . . . I think everybody should get involved in something like this,” he said, referring to the neighborhood crime prevention meeting, which he left early--to buy dead-bolt locks for his house.

Meanwhile, in Mission Viejo, residents of Chrisanta Drive--the street where last weekend’s attack occurred--and television crews gathered as Curtis Sliwa, founder of the volunteer crime patrol group Guardian Angels issued orders to his troops.

Sliwa said about 40 Angels from Santa Ana, Riverside and West Los Angeles will patrol neighborhoods in Orange County and have offered to house-sit with frightened residents. In addition, he said they will set about eight “Guardian Angel Night Stalker traps” in empty houses in an attempt to bait and capture the suspect.

Among the curious was Sharon Garrison, who lives about 10 houses away from the scene of Sunday’s attack. She said that in the wake of the attack, residents of the neighborhood have been spending time planning neighborhood watches and taking other home security precautions.

“When I heard they (the Guardian Angels) were going to be here tonight, I thought I’d give them a call. Maybe I’ll take two home with me,” she said. Since the attack, Garrison said, she and her husband have used nails and screws to fasten their windows shut and are no longer sleeping with the windows open.

“It’s like having your freedom taken away,” she said.

Barb Gordy, 33, said her husband has been out of town most of the week, and she and her two children have been locking up all the windows and suffering the heat of the house, which is not air-conditioned.

“We’ve been as hot as can be,” she said. “Every other night I’ve been leaving my house and staying with neighbors whose houses have air conditioning.”

Yvette Mancillas, 18, who lives several houses away from the attack, added that the family has armed itself since last Sunday’s attack.

“My dad just purchased guns and we brought them to the range this week. He bought me a. 25 Colt and I keep it by my bed,” she said. Asked if she would be able to use it, she replied with determination: “Yes, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Gun Safety Warnings

In recent days, however, sheriff’s deputies have been warning residents about gun safety.

At the El Toro citizens’ meeting, for example, Sheriff’s Commander Hewitt warned residents about improper use of guns.

He noted that earlier this week an Orange County man accidentally left a loaded gun under his bed and it was found by a 4-year-old child, who pulled the trigger.

The bullet missed the child, but it passed through the bedroom wall of a neighboring house, Hewitt said. No one was injured, but it was a “grim reminder,” he said.

“Everyone has the right to own a weapon and protect life and property in their home, but I’m quick to point out that if you don’t take precautions, it could result in an innocent child’s death. What I’m saying is if you do get a gun, be trained and take precautions,” he warned.

Requests Come In

In Mission Viejo, Guardian Angel organizer Sliwa said his group has been inundated by calls from Orange County residents requesting protection. As he organized his members Friday night, he received about eight more requests for protection.

Subsequently, a sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene and requested the names of all the Guardian Angels in the area so the Sheriff’s Department would know who was in the neighborhood.

“We just don’t want to run into each other,” Deputy John Davis explained.

Earlier in the day, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dick Olson, phrased it more strongly:

“We wish they would have contacted us, first,” he said of the Guardian Angels. “We certainly feel they should have had the courtesy to do that. We didn’t request their assistance. We’re a little concerned about the safety aspects of it all. We have plenty of reserve people to call upon if we need to.”

“We’ve never had any dealings with them (the Angels). You have to wonder if they’re doing it for the publicity,” Olson said.

Staff writers Nancy Wride, Robert Hanley and Robert Knight contributed to this report.