Newport Resident Knew That ‘This Guy Is Gonna Shoot Me’ : Attack: Victim, now recovering, was targeted by a stranger while outside a Salt Lake City hotel with his son and girlfriend.

A Newport Beach man remains hospitalized in Salt Lake City after being shot in the face while standing in front of a Marriott hotel with his girlfriend and his 6-year-old son.

Steven Matthews, who described the shooting Thursday from his hospital bed, said he was waiting with friends and family members for a parking attendant on Sunday evening when a man approached and pulled an object from a bag.

“I thought, ‘That looks like a gun,’ ” said Matthews, 26. “I said, ‘This has got to be a joke.’ I looked at his eyes, and he had the spookiest look in his eyes and I said, ‘This guy is gonna shoot me.’ ”

After the shooting, the attacker dropped the gun, sat down and started laughing, said Matthews’ girlfriend, Heidi Adair of Santa Monica, who said she was surprised that the gunman didn’t “spray the lot of us.”

“It was so scary,” Adair said. “It’s amazing how quickly it all happened.”

Police have arrested Mikell Sweezey, 36, whom they describe as a transient who had recently been living in a field behind the state Capitol, about six blocks from the Marriott. Sweezey has been charged with attempted homicide and is being held in Salt Lake County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, Detective Robin Howell said.

Adair said the bullet pierced a spot about an inch and a half below Matthews’ left eye. She credits “divine intervention” with saving her boyfriend’s life.

“If the bullet had moved a 10th of an inch in either direction, Steve would be gone,” she said. “It truly is a miracle.” Matthews is expected to be released from the hospital this weekend, she said.

Although Matthews is exhausted, Adair said, he has granted interviews to newspapers and radio and television stations to call attention to “the plight of the homeless.”

Matthews is, “unfortunately, a celebrity up here right now,” said Adair, who continued the interview when her boyfriend could no longer talk. “He doesn’t hate the man. He just feels sorry for him, which is an incredible thing.”

Adair, Matthews and Matthews’ son had flown to Salt Lake City a week ago to visit Matthews’ younger sister, a freshman at Brigham Young University. Adair said she had intended to fly home last Sunday and the other two were to return the following day. They were preparing to leave for the airport so Adair could catch her flight when the shooting occurred about 6 p.m.

Marriott Hotel General Manager Steve Hart said that other guests were milling about at the time of the shooting but that no one else was hurt. Hotel workers administered first aid to Matthews and the bell captain and director of security at the hotel apprehended the suspect, Hart said.

Detective Howell said Sweezey was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and had lived in Utah for about two years. Before that he had lived in New York state, Howell said.

Hart said hotel workers had never seen Sweezey before. He called the incident “a fluke.” Adair said Matthews grew up in Laguna Beach and Palm Springs and now lives alone on Balboa Island. He is general manager of Money Management Insurance Services in Costa Mesa.

A bicyclist who plays softball, basketball and volleyball locally, Matthews is well known in Orange County, Adair said, and has been inundated with calls and letters from Southern California well-wishers. His room at LDS Hospital is “overflowing” with flowers, she said.

Matthews’ parents, Rita and Gordon Matthews, came from Palm Springs to be at his side. “The support we’ve gotten from all over has been incredible,” Adair said.

Matthews will spend the Thanksgiving holiday recovering in his parents’ home.