An ill-tempered gentleman was on the loose in California's tony beachside town of Pacific Palisades on Saturday, assaulting two people on residential streets before barging into a child's birthday party and sucker-punching the party magician.
The violent 36-year-old, Bryan Stennett, was then chased by a group of "angry fathers," one who described the suspect as looking "like a dad who maybe took mushrooms." But Stennett was not a dad to any of the 4-year-old guests, and after police arrived, he was "arrested on suspicion of assault and booked into the Van Nuys jail," according to the Los Angeles Times.
The random attacks began in the afternoon, when the bizarre stranger first assaulted two people unrelated to each other — one who had collected a package and was entering his house. Stennett followed him in and proceeded to punch the resident around six times, leaving him "battered," bruised and "with a bloody forehead." (See surveillance footage below, posted by ABC7.)
Stennett then made his way across town to the party, which was taking place at a park.
From The Los Angeles Times:
Less than an hour later and a quarter of a mile away from Mesa Road, at the Rustic Canyon Recreational Park, local performer "California Joe, the Explorer Magician" was performing a pirate-themed magic act for a 4-year-old's birthday party in front of about 60 guests.
About 30 children were sitting in a semicircle around a tree, said Alec Egan, the birthday girl's father. When parents saw a man walking behind the tree, they thought he might be part of the magician's act, or at least someone invited to the party. …
Then, Egan said, Stennett ran from behind the tree and sucker-punched the magician in the forehead, about three yards away from the children.
Describing it as a "red, primal dad feeling," Egan said he "football passed" the infant to his mother-in-law and took off running toward Stennett with two of his friends. Stennett fled, and the three chased him to Sunset Boulevard before Egan returned to the park. The two other men continued the pursuit to the North Village neighborhood, he said, keeping Stennett in view until police arrived to arrest him.
The father of the birthday girl said the magician "took [the punch] like a champ," and was only sorry he didn't get to finish the show. Meanwhile, the party crasher is reportedly "awaiting formal charges, with no court date set as of Monday evening."
Previously: Gentleman with gun charges shows up at court — and hurls a bomb that explodes
