Man Sought in Attacks on Two Senior Citizens

Police were searching Sunday for an unidentified assailant who, during back-to-back robberies in a Mt. Washington neighborhood, pummeled an elderly woman for more than an hour, then broke into a neighbor’s home and shot an 82-year-old wheelchair-bound man point-blank in the face, authorities said.

“It is a very disturbing case,” Los Angeles Police Sgt. Greg Winslow said. “The two elderly people were subject to savage treatment. . . . I haven’t seen anything before quite like this.”

The two victims survived the attacks Friday night.

Horace Stewart was listed in serious but stable condition Sunday at County-USC Medical Center, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the mouth. Emma Orduno, 76, was in good condition at Glendale Memorial Hospital, where she had been treated for multiple puncture wounds, bruises and abrasions to her face and body, police said.

Police have been unable to find any witnesses among residents of the 300 block of Mt. Washington Drive, where Stewart lives, or adjacent Glenalbyn Drive, where Orduno lives. The suspect reportedly drove from the neighborhood in Orduno’s 1969 white-and-tan Chevrolet Nova.

Police said the assailant confronted Orduno about 9 p.m. Friday when she went outside to check her circuit breaker box after her electricity was cut off. She came across the man as he was pulling a mask over his head, police said.

The man forced his way into the house at knifepoint and began ransacking rooms for money and jewelry, Winslow said. “He beat her, kicked her, slapped her, and punched her while on a long, drawn-out search,” Winslow said. “Any time she offered any resistance, the suspect slapped her around some more. This went on for an hour to an hour and a half. At some point . . . (Orduno) had been beaten so badly she wasn’t able to stand.”

The suspect found a set of keys and forced Orduno to reveal each key’s function--including one that went to Stewart’s home, Winslow said. The assailant then bound Orduno’s hands and feet and went to Stewart’s house.

The intruder confronted Stewart in a hallway, demanded his money and shot him, police said. He then forced Stewart to lead him to where $600 was hidden.