Heroic Acts of Ordinary People Saluted

Randall Montoya and Robert Klaus were working in their Manhattan Beach auto repair shop when they heard a woman scream in the embroidery store next door.

Montoya, 39, and Klaus, 36, arrived to discover their injured neighbor and saw a man running out the door. As the man raced into the street, motorist Byron Rife, 50, tried to block the escape with his car. The man was captured minutes later by police.

Monday, two years after the attack, the three men were honored with certificates for their heroic efforts by Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp at a ceremony in Westlake Village. They received the annual awards along with 17 other people who “came to the aid of the victims without hesitating, despite the potential danger to themselves,” Van de Kamp said.

Like Montoya and Klaus, many of the heroes were unaccustomed to life-threatening situations.

Among them were Carlos Farias and Mabel Bernal, two Whittier neighbors who, on Jan. 1, helped a family escape a burning home. Another, Richard Gonzalez, a meat cutter from Fillmore, chased and tackled a robbery suspect, holding him down until sheriff’s deputies arrived. Norman Varkdoll, a video store employee from La Palma, similarly handled a gunman--later linked to eight holdups.

Thirty-five law enforcement officers also were honored. But Van de Kamp extended special praise to the members of the public.