3 Gunmen Force Way Into Party; 1 Is Slain : Ojai: Guests at a New Year’s Eve celebration foil an apparent robbery attempt that leaves one intruder seriously hurt and three revelers injured.

A brazen armed robbery attempt by three men in ski masks turned into a bloody free-for-all in a normally quiet Ojai neighborhood early Tuesday as guests at an all-night New Year’s Eve party overwhelmed the intruders and killed one of them, sheriff’s investigators said.

The robbery attempt at a single-story house in the 700 block of Park Road was foiled, investigators said, when guests attacked the three armed men who forced themselves into the house, ordered guests to lie face down and demanded money and jewelry.

The New Year’s morning violence--described by investigators as the first fatal shooting in Ojai in about nine years--ended with one intruder dead and another seriously wounded, investigators said. Three party guests were also hospitalized with injuries.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Harwell said investigators recovered two weapons from the house and are piecing together statements from witnesses. The third intruder was being sought.

Authorities identified the dead man as Ron Brown, 22, of Ventura. A second suspect, identified as Frank Stoddard, 28, of Ventura, was hospitalized at Ojai Valley Hospital with a gunshot wound to the groin.

Party guest August Howard, 36, of Ojai was listed in stable condition at Ventura County Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the eye, hospital officials said. Another guest, John Schommer, 37, also of Ojai, was treated and released from Ojai Valley Hospital with a gunshot wound to the foot, officials said.

The host of the party, Paul Scott Blair, 41, was in stable condition at Ojai Valley Hospital with a bite wound on his hand, officials said.

Harwell said Stoddard had not been arrested because of his injuries.

The third suspect, identified as Timothy Antonelli, was being sought. He is about 24 years old, about 5 feet, 4 inches to 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 150 pounds, Sheriff’s Lt. Paul Anderson said.

The early-morning fracas, which witnesses said ended in a loud struggle and a flurry of gunfire, shocked several residents of Ojai, which recorded its last homicide in 1982.

“This is a good neighborhood with nice people, very family-oriented,” said Rosemary Rodie, who lives a few blocks from the scene of the shooting. “It’s not the kind of place you’d expect this kind of action.”

Sheriff’s deputies blocked traffic on Park Road while investigators studied evidence and interviewed witnesses. Several dried blood stains remained on the sidewalk and road around the house. Dozens of joggers and children on bicycles watched deputies wheel a body out of the house to a waiting car.

During an interview from his hospital bed, Blair said he was asleep around 6:30 a.m. when the three men in dark clothing and ski masks entered his house.

Blair, who delivers doughnuts for a bakery, said someone forced him out of bed and ordered him to lie face down on the floor with several other guests who were still celebrating when the masked men busted through the front door.

He said he heard one of the intruders ask, “Where is the money. Where is the jewelry?”

When guests failed to respond, one of the intruders grabbed Blair’s girlfriend, Melody Hatcher, 26, and threatened to kill her unless they got what they wanted, Blair said.

He said he and Howard then attacked the man who threatened to kill Hatcher, grabbing his gun and trying to knock him down. Several other guests joined the struggle, Blair said.

“I was scared the whole time,” he said. “This is still a nightmare to me.”

Blair said the man he scuffled with bit his finger.

“I heard shots and turned around to look where it was coming from and saw one guy lying near the front door,” he said, referring to the intruder who was fatally shot.

The struggle ended when the shooting stopped and police arrived, Blair said.

“I guess they opened the wrong door,” he said of the intruders.

Blair said he did not know the men or why they may have believed that there was money and jewelry in the house.

Neighbors said that Blair had only lived in the house for a few months and that he had received several complaints about noise.

One neighbor said several residents on the block were considering circulating a petition complaining to city officials about the noise and seeking to force Blair, who rents the house, to move.

“There were people coming and going there all the time,” said another neighbor, who declined to give her name.

Herbert Parrish, a sheriff’s investigator who lives next-door to Blair, said he heard the party at 3:30 a.m.

“I got called out at 3:30 a.m. and it was going on when I left,” he said. “But that is not unusual. It’s a flophouse for people.”

On the lawn of a house across the street, Parrish collected two plastic bags containing white powder and a green glass pipe. However, he said, he had not determined if the robbery attempt was drug-related because he did not know who dropped the drug paraphernalia.

Blair’s son, Jay, 12, said he was asleep when the men entered the house. Jay said he and Hatcher’s brother, Al Merrill, 19, escaped through a side window when they heard the commotion.

Before he left the house, Jay said he heard the masked men identify themselves as police officers as they forced their way in.

Thia Bell and Times staff writer Santiago O’Donnell contributed to this story.