These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
William Nidever was arrested1 12 times in 2022, 11 times in 2023, and seven times in 2024: arson, robbery, burglary, tampering with a vehicle, drug possession, and false imprisonment by violence. Four of the 2024 incidents came in the month before the incident I describe below. He was 56, and a transient.
At about 10:30 on a Tuesday morning, a man in El Cerrito realized that there was a stranger in his home, and thought the stranger had a weapon.
The man shot at the stranger twice with a shotgun, hitting him in the leg and the abdomen. The injuries were life-threatening, so the stranger — Nidever — was airlifted to a trauma center.
Officers from two neighboring departments helped secure the scene. A school on the same block locked down until they’d finished. By that afternoon, the department had concluded that Nidever had entered the home unlawfully. As it turns out, he hadn’t been armed: He’d been carrying a flashlight.
Of course, the resident didn’t know that. A stranger who turns up inside your house at mid-morning doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
“This never happened in my neighborhood,” a neighbor, Nikkio Hunt, told KTVU. “The quietest neighborhood I’ve ever lived in.”
Living in a quiet neighborhood doesn’t make you immune from crime, but being armed can help you deal with it.
Sources
News
William Nidever Arrest Record Details (Local Crime News)
KTVU added a neighbor’s reaction and detail on the wounds. El Cerrito resident shoots alleged home intruder (KTVU)
El Cerrito: Homeowner Shoots Suspected Intruder (Contra Costa News)
El Cerrito resident fires shotgun at unhoused man who entered home: police (KRON4)
El Cerrito resident shoots apparent home intruder (NBC Bay Area)
Suspected home intruder shot in El Cerrito, police say (ABC7)
Wednesday Morning News Roundup (SFGATE)
El Cerrito shooting injures 1, prompts lockdown at nearby school (CBS San Francisco; day-of)
El Cerrito Shooting Injures 1, Prompts Lockdown At Nearby School (Patch; excerpt of the CBS item)
Burglary Suspect Recovering from Gunshot Wounds (Crime Voice)
Hoodline ran two articles, before and after the police update.
El Cerrito Disturbed by Morning Shooting, One Wounded, Suspect Detained (Day-of)
UPDATE: El Cerrito Morning Shooting Leads to One Injury and Suspect Detainment, Burglary Investigation Underway (The update)
This count comes from Local Crime News, not a primary source. They’re arrests, not convictions; I don’t know what their dispositions were.