Amid the chaos following the detonation of a bomb inside Santa Maria’s Santa Barbara County Superior Court building lobby two weeks ago, Steve Neil reacted with instinct.
On Tuesday, Neil, from the court’s contracted security firm Triumph Protection Group, received recognition from Santa Barbara County for his “exceptional courage and heroism” alongside four law enforcement officers credited with “exceptional professionalism” and “remarkable courage” for their action on Sept. 25.
The quintet “thwarted a domestic terrorist attack in our community,” Santa Barbara County Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson said before the five received resolutions from the Board of Supervisors praising their actions.
“Without their heroics, there would have been significant loss of life,” Nelson said. “The fact we have a civilian court worker and law enforcement from four different agencies is emblematic of the cooperation that takes place among so many agencies in our community to keep us safe.”
As the courtrooms opened for the day shortly after 8:30 a.m., a defendant scheduled to be arraigned on a weapons-related charge tossed a bag containing an improvised explosive device into the lobby, injuring five people.
The suspect, shouting anti-government statements, barreled through the metal detector, lobbing the bomb-carrying bag into the building instead of sending it through the X-ray machine.
“We never even got a chance to talk to him, search him or anything. It happened so fast,” Neil told Noozhawk. “It was only a matter of a couple of seconds from when he threw it to when it exploded.”
Recalling the fireball that erupted in the building, Neil quickly chased the suspect, Nathaniel James McGuire, as he fled to his car in the parking lot. Neil yanked the 20-year-old out of the red Mustang’s driver’s seat and held the man down until deputies arrived.
County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Nelson arrived seconds later. Soon, California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Hanrahan, District Attorney’s Office investigator Wayne Flick and Santa Maria Police Officer Erik Hesch joined to assist in detaining McGuire.
Neil grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and later served in the British Army before coming to the United States. He has worked in various security positions among other jobs since arriving in Santa Maria in 1982, working at the courts for about 15 years.
“But it wasn’t just the luck of Irish that occurred that day. It was his personal courage in chasing and apprehending, unarmed, a suspect who had just committed an absolutely unprecedented crime in our county,” Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Neil credits his military service, time in Belfast when bombings occurred often, and Triumph’s training for his quick response.
Security video recordings of the incident helped illustrate that the outcome “could have been so bad,” Brown said.
“The footage that we’ve seen — it will be released after the court case — is pretty dramatic, and it is really amazing in terms of what Steve and these other gentlemen did in the wake of this unprecedented event,” Brown said.
Later, the suspect said he intended to get more weapons and explosives to continue his attack aimed at sheriff’s deputies and a judge.
Positioned at a security desk in the lobby, Chris Nelson reacted quickly, pausing to take cover when the device detonated, before he ran out of the door on the heels of Neil.
The fact that the men coincidentally represented four law enforcement agencies was mentioned several times.
“If you asked any one of the four of them, if you thanked them for their heroism, their extraordinary events on that day, they will all tell you they were just doing their job,” District Attorney John Savrnoch said.
Court staff prepares for various emergencies on a regular basis, Court Executive Officer Darrel Parker said, sharing a quote that “crisis doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”
“On that day, all of the those men really revealed their true character,” Parker said, “and I want to thank them.”