Intruder Shot by Seal Beach Retiree, 76

A 76-year-old Seal Beach man early Monday shot an intruder after being awakened by his wife, who had heard sounds in their Leisure World apartment, police said.

The suspect, identified by police as Leslie C. Maurer, 34, of Santa Ana was wounded in the right armpit. But he fled from the retirement community, leading police on a high-speed motorcycle chase, Sgt. John Walkman said.

Maurer was arrested an hour later, at 3 a.m., on suspicion of burglary and was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Walkman said.

Retiree Roy Johnson awakened after his wife heard someone break into the apartment, and he confronted Maurer with a flashlight and a .22-caliber revolver, Walkman said.

Fired Once

When Maurer advanced toward him in the dark, Johnson fired once, police said. Maurer apparently was unarmed.

After he was shot, Maurer ran from the house, Walkman said.

Maurer raced away on a motorcycle with several unmarked police cars in pursuit, Walkman said. At one point, Walkman said, authorities called off the pursuit because of danger to the public.

About 3 a.m., an off-duty Huntington Beach police officer saw a man on a motorcycle trying to stop motorists for help on Beach Boulevard in Westminster, Walkman said. Suspicious, the officer called Westminster police, who had heard a radio call about the earlier pursuit and arrested Maurer.

Walkman said Maurer was in guarded condition and was to be transferred today to a medical ward in the Orange County Jail where he would be held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Described as Feisty

Johnson declined Monday to discuss the incident, but Harold Johnson, a neighbor and former work colleague who is not related to Roy Johnson, described the retired laboratory technician as a feisty man.

“Roy is like that--he doesn’t take any bull,” Johnson said.

In November, 1985, Maurer was convicted of seven counts of burglary in Orange County and was sentenced to four years in state prison, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was released on parole last month.

The shooting occurred even as Seal Beach police had staked out the northeast corner of Leisure World, where seven apartments had recently been burglarized.