Senior Ninja saves neighbor
Lorenza Marrujo, 67, was born in San Bernardino and attended Redlands High school. She studied criminal justice at Chaffey College with the hope of becoming a crime scene investigator or lawyer. Along the way, she trained in Jiu Jitsu for 26 years from about 1981 to 2007. She liked to train while listening to “Eye of the Tiger,” the Survivor song made popular in the movie Rocky III. Lorenza would always travel alone and use her training “plenty of times” to ward off people who wanted to hurt her. She worked sometimes as a security guard. Her skills, which she practices occasionally, again helped her and a close friend on Monday. Marrujo said she was in her third-floor apartment when Donald Prestwood entered about 8 p.m., appearing to be under the influence and asking for his girlfriend. Prestwood lives in the complex and often does handyman work for residents, she said. Prestwood grabbed at her, prompting Marrujo to grab a neon-yellow Easton baseball bat. “I said, ‘Back off or I will have to hurt you,’” she said.
Lorenza said Prestwood left and headed to the first-floor apartment of 82 year old Elizabeth McCray, the girlfriend’s mother who Lorenza calls “Mama Liz.” She was suspicious and followed him down to the first-floor apartment. The lights were off as Lorenza entered and she heard Grandma McCray screaming. Lorenza called 911 and turned on the flashlight on her phone to see Prestwood standing over McCray. Marrujo, 4-foot-11 and 100 pounds, said she was not afraid for herself but for her friend. So she swept her leg into the leg of Prestwood, listed in jail records as 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, to trip him. Both of them went down. She said he wound up on the floor beneath Grandma McCray. Prestwood used his legs to hold Grandma McCray down. “I had to bend his fingers back … to get him off her. He was screaming because that’s one of my techniques, the bent fingers. Then I went ‘boom’ with my elbow twice in his sternum,” Lorenza said, demonstrating a sharp, nasty jab. Marrujo, for good measure, placed one knee on Prestwood’s chest and one on his neck and scrunched his mouth with her hand.
Mercifully for Prestwood, police arrived and handcuffed him. “Jesus was here and gave her power,” Grandma McCray said. “I wouldn’t think a little lady would have the power to do this.” Fontana police Officer Jennie Venzor, a department spokeswoman, also praised Marrujo. “I think she was very courageous and she jumped in to save her friend,” Venzor said. Prestwood was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse and was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail. On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty to the charge. But it’s usually better, officer Venzor said, to be a good witness instead of engaging an attacker because the suspect could be armed. Still, Venzor said, “This is a feel-good story.”
Ninja Humor
How does a ninja deal with fear?
She gives it to others!
What kind of shoes do Ninjas wear?
Sneakers.
I typed “ninjas” into thesaurus.com. It said, “ninjas cannot be found.”
Well played ninjas, well played.
What weapon does a Catholic ninja use?
Nunchucks.
May 17th Birthdays
1961 – Enya, 1981 -Tine Fey, 1997 – Josephine Petterson, 1994 – Brooke Wexler
1952 – George Strait,1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard and Bob Saget, 1997 – Ryan Ochoa