Encino Judge Cited for Disarming Gunman Holding Hostage in Court : Honors: Charles Gordon of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board is lauded by the Carnegie Hero Fund panel.

An Encino judge was awarded the prestigious Carnegie heroism award on Monday for disarming a gunman holding a lawyer hostage in his courtroom last summer.

Charles Gordon, an administrative law judge for the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, was one of 16 people cited for heroism by the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The citation carries a $2,500 reward.

The commission has honored 7,655 people in North America since it was founded in 1904 by Pittsburgh industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Six of the heroes honored Monday died in their rescue attempts. Five others, including Gordon, were honored for interceding in violent crimes.

Gordon, 63, was in his chambers in the State Building in downtown Los Angeles last Aug. 26, when he heard a “yelp” from the adjoining courtroom, he said in an interview. He ran into the courtroom to find Mulji Patel, a former employee of Rockwell International Corp., holding a .22-caliber pistol to the head of Rockwell attorney Lynn Petersen.

The building is patrolled by state police, but the courtroom has no bailiff, Gordon said.

Gordon approached Patel and began talking to him in an effort to calm him down, the judge said. Patel responded by pressing the gun harder against Petersen, who reached up to brush it away, Gordon said.

“I was more worried about her than myself, so I lunged at him, and we fell to the floor,” Gordon said. “The gun fell out of his hand, and Lynn grabbed it.

“It’s something anyone would do. I can’t see anyone saying, ‘Oh well,’ and just going back to their office.”

After the incident, authorities discovered Patel’s gun was not loaded. Nonetheless, he was convicted of bringing a weapon into a courtroom but has not been sentenced yet, Gordon said.

“Actually, I feel sorry for him,” the judge said. “He had had four back operations and the insurance company didn’t want to pay for a fifth because he wasn’t getting any better.”

Gordon said he feels honored to receive the award, but joked that “I’ve promised to give something to my children and to charity and to have a party with it, so now I’m $7,500 in debt because of it.”