On the morning of Sept. 25, 2024, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Nelson was just feet away from an explosive that sent burning debris flying and filled the lobby of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Maria with smoke. 

He and private security guard Steve Neil acted quickly, chasing the bombing suspect through smoke and out to his vehicle where he had a loaded rifle, a shotgun and more improvised explosives. 

Nelson was then joined by District Attorney’s Office investigator Wayne Flick, Santa Maria Police Detective Erik Hesch and California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Hanrahan, all of whom had jumped into action to find the suspect after the explosion. Together, they stopped the bombing suspect, Nathaniel McGuire, from entering his vehicle and took him into custody. 

Nelson, Flick, Hesch and Hanrahan were honored for their work that day at Thursday’s annual H. Thomas Guerry Awards with the H. Thomas Guerry Award for valor. 

“All of these awesome heroes ran towards danger knowing that it was dangerous,” Santa Barbara County Undersheriff Craig Bonner said. “They ran toward it, and they absolutely saved lives working together.”

The Santa Barbara Citizens Council on Crime has hosted the Guerry Awards for the past 55 years to recognize law enforcement personnel who go above and beyond for the community. The H. Thomas Guerry Award is named after a Santa Barbara Police Department officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1970.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Kohli, Detective Ruben Esparza and Detective Mathew Maxwell were honored with the Superior Performance Award for pursuing justice for Violet Evelyn Alberts, an elderly Montecito woman who was murdered in her own bed in 2022.

Detective Kohli was assigned as the lead detective on the case, with Detective Esparza as his secondary.

“With no suspects and no clear motive for the crime, these detectives began a very tedious and time-consuming task, canvassing all of Montecito for any and all video surveillance and examining everything they could find out about the victim, trying to figure out why someone would want to do her harm,” Bonner said. 

Kohli was promoted to sheriff’s sergeant midway through the investigation, and Detective Maxwell took over as the lead investigator. 

The investigation spanned two years, involving more than 100 search warrants, 150 interviews and 2,000 surveillance hours — and ultimately led to five arrests. 

“Slowly but surely, our detectives pieced together an incredibly complex web,” Bonner said. “Pursuing many different investigative angles, they tirelessly pursued those leads and worked to weave everything together and build the sequence of events that led to her death.”

Also honored with the Superior Performance Award was Santa Barbara Police Officer Shaneese Fischer, who joined the department in March 2020 and works as a crime scene investigator and a member of the crisis negotiation response team. 

Fischer was honored for her actions on Jan. 24 when she reported to the Douglas Family Preserve for a suicidal individual sitting at the edge of a cliff. 

Santa Barbara Police Chief Kelly Gordon said Fischer began to talk to the person in distress, using her training to build trust, remain calm and help the person lower their defenses. 

“She gained enough of his trust to allow her to put a blanket over his shoulders, and this act was what caused him to back away from the cliff,” Gordon said. “Her patience, empathy and composure led to a safe resolution in a situation where the outcome could have been far different.”

Also honored was Austin Ingalls with the District Attorney’s Office for prosecuting two homicide cases in 2024. The first case involved a racially motivated killing of Navy veteran Gerald Williams. 

While he was working on closing arguments in that case, he was selecting a jury for another homicide trial involving the fatal stabbing of a homeless man, in which he also got a first-degree murder conviction.

District Attorney John Savrnoch said crimes involving homeless individuals are often hard to prosecute because there are no reliable witnesses. 

“But this individual, who perished through no fault of his own, Austin, didn’t let his life circumstances interfere, and he didn’t let the difficulties in the case interfere with his desire to make sure that a murderer was held responsible for what he did,” Savrnoch said.

Also honored with the superior performance award this year were:

• Officer Victor Sanchez with California Highway Patrol (Santa Barbara)
• Officer Jason Green with California Highway Patrol (Buelleton) 
• Detective Kayla Horton with the Lompoc Police Department
• Sergeant Thomas Van Eyck with the Santa Barbara Police Department
• Officer Madison Trevino with the Santa Barbara Police Department