Terrified Soccer Teams Run from Soccer Park Attacker, Police Shoot
Schiltz is removed from park (ABC7)
HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Orange County Coroner has identified the homeless man who continually ran at players and attendees last night throughout the Huntington Beach Soccer Complex waving a broken bottle and a stick.
Steven Schiltz (29, Huntington Beach), a transient suffering from mental illness, was described by his mother Angela Hernandez as not able to accept psychiatric care.
Huntington Beach Police arrived at the 18100 block of Goldenwest Street, as hundreds of terrified participants ran to jump over the fences.
Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy said that there were reports of a man holding a bat and broken bottle before he was shot Thursday night, The Orange County Register reported.
Chief Handy noted that there were about 200 people present at the 45-acre park, which features eight softball fields, seven soccer fields, batting cages, and playgrounds.
One of the girls’ soccer coaches attempted to trap the shirtless, bleeding attacker by overturning a soccer goal, but the suspect continued his rampage.
Those still in the bleachers were dropping everything and running, as the attacker ran up the bleachers toward them while waving his weapons. Police fired three shots, and Schlitz was pronounced dead at the scene.
Soccer coach Jose Sanchez told ABC7 that the police “shot him about three times, he was still moving around, so then they shot him about three or four more times.”
His mother told CBS News, “He was recently, last year, in a psych ward. I tried to get him help and kept telling him, ‘Let’s get help.’ What they tell me is that he has to want the help. But I’m thinking – well, what can I do when he’s mentally unstable? As an adult child, because he’s 29 years old: what am I supposed to do?”
While Detectives gather information during the ongoing investigation, witnesses or those with any information about case #170309-0912 are encouraged to provide information by calling the Orange County Sheriff’s Homicide Division (714) 647-7055.
