Humboldt County, California

From the November 1, 2006 Eureka Times-Standard:

A retired Superior Court judge who sometimes still substitutes in Humboldt County courtrooms was shot at and returned fire Sunday when he attempted to block two men from driving a suspected stolen vehicle from a sand bar on the Klamath River.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Department said a deputy was flagged down by a man around noon on State Route 96.

The man said they were just near Big Bar on the Klamath when he spotted a vehicle he believed was stolen from him the night before.

The man told the deputy he talked to a fisherman in the area who said he would block the road if someone tried to leave in the vehicle.

”The fisherman added he was in possession of a handgun,” stated a Humboldt County Sheriff's Department press release.

When the vehicle owner and the deputy returned to the area the vehicle was gone but the fisherman was still on the scene.

The fisherman, identified as Harold Neville, 77, of Eureka, said he blocked the road with his vehicle when two men tried to leave the sand bar in the stolen vehicle.

”He said the two occupants of the stolen vehicle got out of the car and one of them leveled a weapon at him and fired three or four times,” the release stated.

“The fisherman, who had a handgun, fired one round at the vehicle as it drove past him, leaving the area.”

Neville was not hit.