Man Held, 2nd Sought in Armed Intrusion, Assault

Two men armed with semiautomatic machine guns burst into a Huntington Beach apartment Friday, tied up the occupant and assaulted a visitor before a policeman arrived and captured one of the intruders.

Police said a second gunman apparently slipped out before a SWAT team surrounded the apartment--probably while the first officer at the scene wrestled with the suspect at the apartment as they tumbled out the front door.

No shots were fired, and there were no serious injuries, police officials said. They said hundreds of children at nearby Haven View School were ushered through the playground and out of gunfire range in an orderly fashion when classes ended for the day. Residents who were evacuated from an apartment building were allowed to return about 5 p.m., when the SWAT team determined that the second suspect had escaped.

The visitor was identified as Christine Louise Howell, 21, and the apartment’s occupant as Harold Leon Watkins, 46, who lives at the apartment with his girlfriend. Watkins’ girlfriend had not returned to the apartment when officers left the scene, and her name was not disclosed.

Police identified the arrested man as John Martin Vernon, 40, of Anaheim. He is being held without bail at the Huntington Beach City Jail on suspicion of robbery and suspicion of parole violation, according to Police Sgt. Jeff Cope.

Watkins suffered wrist burns from a red nylon rope that he was bound with inside his apartment at 4921 Kona Drive. He also appeared to have burn marks on his throat. Barefoot and shirtless, he sat in the back of a patrol car at the school for four hours before he was driven to the police station for questioning.

The incident began about noon when Watkins’ next-door neighbor called police to report “yelling and ransacking” coming from Watkins’ apartment, said JoAnne Bergstrom, a police spokeswoman. At about the same time, Howell arrived to visit Watkins’ girlfriend, who was not home. Howell rang the doorbell, the door flew open and she was beaten and kicked by one of the gunmen before she managed to flee. Police said Howell called them moments later from the school.

An officer arrived at Watkins’ apartment about 12:30 p.m. but had not announced himself when the front door again flew open. He found Watkins, his hands tied behind him, and one of the intruders, Bergstrom said. Both men “took off,” Bergstrom said. She said the officer did not initially know that Watkins was a victim and ordered both men to sprawl on the lawn.

Repeated calls to the apartment for any other intruder to surrender went unanswered, police said, and the SWAT team was summoned about 1 p.m. Police believe the second intruder escaped, possibly through a common attic in the two-story apartment building, before the team arrived.

Several rounds of tear gas were fired into Watkins’ apartment and SWAT members entered about 15 minutes later. Surrounding streets, which had been barricaded, were reopened about 5 p.m.