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Forklift driver gets $5,000 reward in Calif. homeless killings case
Donny Hopkins receives a $5,000 reward from the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs' president Tom Dominguez, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
(Credit: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)(CBS/AP) ANAHEIM, Calif. - A 32-year-old forklift driver received a $5,000 reward on Wednesday for his heroic role in the capture of Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine suspected in a bloody killing spree targeting Orange County's homeless.
Donny Hopkins was buying his wife cigarettes at a drug store when a man burst inside and screamed for help.
Hopkins, who knew a serial killer was targeting homeless men, bolted from the store to find a man repeatedly stabbing a Vietnam veteran behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant.
"I'm yelling as loud as I can, 'Hey, stop!' at the top of my lungs. He just kept going and kept going," Hopkins told The Associated Press on Wednesday as he recounted the Jan. 13 attack.
Hopkins managed to dial 911 as he chased the suspect across the Anaheim strip mall and into a mobile home park, where police eventually took the blood-covered Ocampo into custody.
Ocampo, 23, an Iraq war veteran from Yorba Linda, has been charged with murdering four homeless men in Orange County over nearly a month. Police fanned out across the county better known as the home to Disneyland and multi-million dollar beachfront homes to urge the homeless to be careful and seek shelter indoors.
Hopkins, who lives in the trailer park where Ocampo was nabbed, received the reward check at a news conference outside the fast-food restaurant where 64-year-old victim John Berry is remembered with a collection of candles, flowers and teddy bears.
Hopkins, who had given money to Berry in the past, said he didn't feel like a hero because the man died.
"I did what I hope anybody would do if you see somebody in trouble," he said. "I'm just a guy who did the right thing. John was a Vietnam vet -- he's a hero. That's a real hero."
Hopkins intends to use the reward to pay bills and help his mother, who lost her job a few weeks ago.
Complete coverage of Itzcoatl Ocampo on Crimesider
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