High-Living Businessman Survives a Robber’s Bullet

His friends worried that William Notthoff might get into trouble if he didn’t tone down his flamboyance. But the former owner of Notthoff Engineering paid them no mind, sporting a gleaming diamond pinky ring, $20,000 Rolex and a $70,000 Porsche.

Tuesday night, his friends’ fears were realized when a gunman confronted the self-made businessman outside the company he once owned, ripping Notthoff’s Rolex from his wrist and then, smiling, shooting him point-blank in the chest.

Police say Notthoff was extremely lucky: The bullet hit a rib but did not penetrate his lung, lodging instead underneath his skin.

The assailant pocketed the Rolex but didn’t touch the diamond ring, the $3,200 in cash that Notthoff was carrying or his dark green Porsche Carrera, which sat running with the lights on next to Notthoff Engineering in the 15600 block of Container Lane.

“I don’t know if he realizes just how lucky he was,” said Jerry Hefner, 54, who grew up with Notthoff in Los Angeles and later opened a business in the same Huntington Beach industrial neighborhood where Notthoff built his empire.

Hefner said his friend was in good spirits Wednesday at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was asking to be released early. Notthoff’s condition was upgraded from serious to good, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Notthoff, 59, recently sold his aircraft and jet-part manufacturing business, friends said. But he regularly visited from his new home in Nevada to help the new owners get going.

On Tuesday, Notthoff had spent the evening at My Place, a nearby bar and longtime hangout for the industrial business owners in the neighborhood. Notthoff quit drinking six years ago, but he often visited the bar to talk to friends and drink his customary “virgin greyhound”--or grapefruit juice, said Vince Badder, the bar’s owner.

About 7:30 p.m., Notthoff returned to his former business and stopped inside to get his dog. He was heading back to his car when the assailant walked up the driveway and said, “I want the Rolex,” Police Lt. Dan Johnson said.

The man slammed Notthoff against the building door, knocked him to the ground and grabbed the watch before smiling down at him and firing a small-caliber handgun, Johnson said. He then walked off.

Police described the assailant as a Latino in his mid-20s, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. He was wearing a black watch cap pulled down to his eyes, a black jacket and dark pants, police said.

Notthoff managed to stagger inside, where a machinist on duty called for help. Friends at the bar marveled Wednesday at Notthoff’s good fortune, but said they doubted the close call would change him.

“He’s always been flashy,” said a 69-year-old friend known around the neighborhood as Big Mike. “He always flashed the cash. He always bragged about how he was doing. He’s a very successful businessman and a nice guy.”