ALTADENA/ PASADENA : Two Area Women Cited for Courage

Two San Gabriel Valley residents were honored Friday by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for risking their lives to assist victims of crime and help put the attackers behind bars.

Nona Ross of Altadena and Eleanor Gifford of Pasadena received commendations from Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti at the Ninth Annual Courageous Citizen Awards Ceremony.

Ross, along with Grand Lee Bush of Santa Monica, helped save a man’s life by taking him to the hospital after he was shot in the back in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles in March, 1993.

Robert Nimmons of Simi Valley was wounded by a man who later surrendered to police and said he was trying to start a race war by shooting the first white person he saw. The shooter, Darryl Lynn Arnold, turned himself in and is serving a 20-year prison term.

Gifford, 26, stopped a robbery when she tackled a purse snatcher known as “The Old Man Bandit,” and wrested another woman’s bag from him March 22.

She chased the robber to his car, noted his license plate and informed police. Warner Loftus, 61, is awaiting trial on 39 counts of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.