Man Terrorizes Family, Climbs School Roof: Cops

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — A man who was thought to be under the influence of drugs entered a home near a school in Rossmoor, disrobed and terrorized a family before being caught on the roof of Hopkinson Elementary School late Wednesday night, officials say.

It started off as an ordinary night for the family when a man they did not know, identified by authorities as Keith Eric Newbury, 37, entered their home through an unlocked door without permission.

"(Newbury) walked into the bedroom of a 14-year-old boy, woke him up to ask a question, then undressed himself," Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Carrie Braun said.

The teen told reporters that he was asked "if he was deaf"right before the man began to strip. He exited the room, calmly, and told his mother "there is a stranger in my room."

Then, he armed himself with a meat cleaver kept behind the family bar.

"Newbury followed the boy through the house, at one point wrapping a USB cable around the mother's neck, Braun said.

"The father then came inside, and chased the suspect out of the home."

Next, Newbury jumped into a white Dodge van parked outside and drove through several streets before driving across the grass of Hopkinson Elementary School. He climbed onto the school's roof and tried to hide, Braun said.

Los Alamitos Deputies and Seal Beach Police surrounded the school, making multiple announcements for the suspect to surrender. Nearly an hour and a half after the incident began, the suspect climbed off of the roof using a ladder provided by the Orange County Fire Authority and surrendered.

Deputies later discovered that Newbury had committed several acts of vandalism while on the roof, Braun added.

He was taken to a hospital before being booked on suspicion of burglary, indecent exposure, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance, the OCSD said.