2 Valley Residents Honored for Courage

Two Valley residents were honored by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office Tuesday for their courage in helping thwart two separate crimes.

Claude Marotta Jr., 13, of Canoga Park, and Keith Lewis, 37, of Van Nuys, were nominated for Courageous Citizen awards by Los Angeles deputy district attorneys.

Claude was home alone on a November afternoon last year when he heard ringing and knocking at his door. When he realized the man was trying to break into the house, Claude dialed 911. The intruder had broken a window and was in the house by the time police arrived.

“I don’t think any adult could have done any better than he did,” said Claude’s mother, Diane Gallemore, who was taking her daughter to the dentist at the time of the incident. “I’m so proud.”

Police arrested the intruder, who--with the help of Claude’s testimony in August--was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison under the state’s three-strikes laws, according to Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, who presented the awards at an event in Northridge.

Lewis said he was returning home from work one morning in April when he heard a popping noise, which he first suspected to be fireworks, in his townhouse complex. When he heard screaming from a neighbor’s home, he realized shots had been fired inside and escorted six children out of the unit’s back door.

Lewis grabbed a handgun from his apartment and found a woman who had been shot in the chest in the building’s spa area. The woman’s ex-boyfriend allegedly approached her with a gun, but Lewis said he was able to use his own weapon to dissuade the man from pulling the trigger, and watch over him until police arrived.

The woman has recovered from her injuries. Her assailant is being tried for attempted murder, Garcetti said.

“I didn’t think anything about it at the time,” Lewis said of his actions. “I was just being a good neighbor.”

The awards were co-sponsored by the Northridge/Chatsworth and Granada Hills Rotary Clubs.

“These are special people in our community who did special things that usually go unrecognized,” Garcetti said.