Prowling Call Ends in Death for Marine : Police Release San Clemente Resident After Chase, Fatal Stabbing

A Marine officer suspected of prowling at a San Clemente residence Friday used a tire iron to injure a police officer and then was stabbed to death as he tried to flee from the resident, police said.

Harry H. Summerfield, 23, a second lieutenant stationed at Camp Pendleton, bled to death, according to preliminary results of an autopsy.

The resident, Jonathan L. Alcorn, 22, was taken into custody but released when detectives determined that he had been “assisting officers,” police said.

The incident began about 2 a.m. when San Clemente Police Officer Allen Harry radioed dispatchers that he would be investigating a “disturbance” in the residential area of Avenida Serra and Avenida Palizada.

“Simultaneously, the dispatcher received a call from a woman reporting that her husband, Jonathan L. Alcorn . . . had a prowler in custody outside their residence” in the 200 block of Avenida Serra, Police Lt. Hector Rivera said in a prepared statement. The dispatcher radioed that information to Harry.

Radios for Help

A short time later, Harry told the dispatcher that he was chasing the suspected prowler on foot and asked for back-up officers, Rivera said. The officer radioed the dispatcher moments later that the man had injured him with a tire iron and he needed help.

At that point, Rivera stated, “the suspect . . . was chased and apprehended by the resident, Mr. Alcorn, who was assisting officers.”

Lt. Leonard Goodwin said Summerfield was in the street when Alcorn stabbed him. Goodwin would not say how many times he was stabbed.

Summerfield and Harry were taken to Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo, where Summerfield died. Harry, 32, was treated and released.

“It was determined that criminal charges would not be filed against Mr. Alcorn,” Rivera’s statement said.

Police are investigating “several crimes of attempted residential burglary, auto burglary and prowling which occurred during the early morning hours in the same general area,” Rivera stated.

Summerfield had attended a bachelor party Thursday night for a fellow Marine about a block from the Alcorn home and had departed about 11:30 p.m.

The Marine who hosted the party said Summerfield did not seem drunk when he left his home, where about 30 men were holding a “very low-key” celebration for the groom. The host, who asked that his name be withheld, had arrived on Avenida Serra with two other Marines on Friday afternoon to search for Summerfield’s car after news spread of Summerfield’s stabbing.

“I just can’t see Harry (Summerfield) picking a fight,” the friend said. “He’s just not that kind of man. I’d call him the gentle giant type.” He said Summerfield stood 5 feet, 11 inches and weighed 210 pounds.

“I don’t know what happened. I was figuring he was trying to find my place and got lost, maybe knocked on the wrong door.”

Summerfield lived with his wife in Oceanside, a Marine Corps spokesman said. The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the stabbing at the request of the San Clemente Police Department, as part of the department’s policy.