ANAHEIM HILLS – Nathanael Blair and his wife were opening presents in their condo on Country Glen Way as their 3-year-old daughter slept early Christmas morning.
When Blair realized he left some stocking stuffers in his truck and went out to grab them, he left the front door to the home open. It was then, Blair thinks, that a burglar clad in a ski mask slipped into the home and waited in the garage, until Blair discovered him a couple of hours later.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Blair, 36. “I was terrified.”
Blair was getting ready to go to bed at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday, when he realized his truck was still in the street and wanted to move it inside.
As he entered the garage, the burglar swung at him with a pipe wrench. The wrench hit Blair in the jaw and neck, leaving him cut and bruised.
Blair ran into his home and upstairs, grabbing his 12-gauge Winchester shotgun. When Blair returned, the burglar was outside, surveying neighbors’ garages, Blair said.
Spotting Blair with the gun, the burglar started running away. Blair chased after him and fired the shotgun.
“I knew I hit him because he screamed in pain,” Blair said.
Ken Hess, 67, who lives in a condo behind Blair, had just gone to sleep with his window open when the shot was fired.
“All of a sudden, I heard a shotgun blast,” Hess said. “I’ve lived here for 10 years. It’s usually very quiet.”
Hess went outside and saw a spatter of blood, a backpack full of DVDs, a box cutter knife and a shell casing, all along the street.
Despite being hit, the suspect got away.
Police arrived and searched the area. They found the suspect in a garage in the 1000 block of Country Glen, Anaheim Police Lt. Bob Dunn said. He was transported to the hospital for a wound in his back and taken into custody on suspicion of residential burglary. Dunn said his injury did not appear to be life-threatening.
The suspect identified himself to police as Jeremy William Bell, 29, from Fullerton, Dunn said.
Authorities believe it was the second time the man tried to enter a home that night.
Blair’s house, in the 900 block of Country Glen Way, is about a half-mile from where police say another burglary attempt had occured. At about 11:30 p.m., a man who police think was Bell tried to break into another home in the 8300 block of Quiet Canyon Court, Dunn said. The homeowner there scared the burglar off, he said. Police searched the area, but could not find him.
In addition to the Winchester, Blair owns two other shotguns. He’s had them for about 18 years, he said, originally for pheasant hunting in his native South Dakota. He’s lived in Anaheim for the past three years and occasionally shoots skeet at a gun range.
Blair said the possibility of using the guns for self defense was an added bonus, but not one he ever thought he would need.
“I’m glad I could protect my family,” said Blair, an inventory manager at a commercial security systems company, “but it’s not something I seek to do.”
He said he had feared the man could return to his home.
When the police investigation is completed, Dunn said, the case will be turned over to the Anaheim city attorney and the Orange County District Attorney to determine if the shooting was in self defense.
Blair had hoped for some rest before going to his uncle’s house for a traditional German Christmas meal. He and his family never made it.
But his little daughter, who slept through the entire ordeal, opened her presents undisturbed when she awoke at 5 a.m.
“She didn’t know anything happened,” Blair said. “That made me feel really good.”
Contact the writer: 714-704-3771 or rkheel@ocregister.com
