Matthew Horn was relaxing at a friend's house, catching up and laughing with a livestream playing in the background, when chaos erupted online. Twitch streamer Jayden Samuel, known as Aesdr, was hosting a gathering at his expansive home in Tarzana, Los Angeles, on April 18. Suddenly, loud banging echoed through the house, and hooded strangers stood menacingly in the darkened entry hall. The home invaders had broken in around 2 a.m., smashing the gate and forcing the back door open, demanding thousands of dollars.
Horn, 37, watched the situation escalate and realized the intruders were armed. The disabled US Navy veteran jumped into his car and drove to the house, armed only with a can of bear spray and his wits. 'Jayden, he's like my little brother, I'd never let anything happen to him. I had to do something,' Horn told the Daily Mail.
Aesdr and his friends, looking down from the top of the stairs, tried to negotiate for over half an hour, but the intruders refused to leave. 'You're gonna kill us or something? For $2,500?' Aesdr asked, later claiming the group threatened their lives. Seconds later, Horn burst through the front door, warning the invaders he was ex-military and demanding they leave. The group retreated toward the door as Horn held the bear spray in front of him, before a rapid succession of gunshots rang out. Horn collapsed in a pool of blood as the stream cut off amid panicked screams.
Heroic Intervention
'I remember the bullets hitting me, then I put my hand over my chest,' Horn said. He was shot six times as the home invaders opened fire, narrowly missing Aesdr and his friends. Three bullets hit his chest, one blocked by the bear spray can and ricocheting through his torso. 'It was like you have an elephant sitting on your chest… the weight and heaviness of something being there collapsing your lungs,' he added. After the first three shots, he turned instinctively and was hit twice more in the back and once in his left buttock.
Once the shooters fled, Aesdr and two friends ran to Horn's aid, trying to staunch the bleeding. Horn thought he was going to die: 'I said, God forgive me for all my sins, and I forgive everybody, including the shooter.' Aesdr, who was halfway down the stairs when the shooting began, believes the first shot was meant for him. 'That first bullet, it was for me. It was two inches away from me, it would have hit me in my pelvis and I would have died. Matthew saved all our lives. He's a hero, we might all be dead if he didn't come.'
Long Recovery Ahead
Police took 30 minutes to arrive, and an ambulance another 30 minutes. 'So Matthew was on the floor for an hour and he survived,' Aesdr said. Horn underwent four to five hours of surgery at Northridge Hospital and still has a bullet lodged in his chest that is too dangerous to remove. 'One of the bullets bounced off my sternum and went through my liver, stomach, and spleen. It's still there, close to my heart. The doctors said if it was a half inch to the left, it would have hit my heart and I would have died.'
Horn also has bullet fragments in his left upper arm, causing nerve damage that partially paralyzed his left hand. Another bullet broke his right hip, leaving fragments in his leg, with other fragments in his back and a fractured rib making it difficult to breathe. Surgeons cut along his chest from sternum to pelvis, leaving a grisly wound held together with dozens of staples. He stayed in hospital for 13 days before being sent home, but was later rushed to UCLA Medical Center with severe chest pains. 'I had over 200ml of blood and liquid in my lungs, and they said if I had waited one more day, I would have died.'
Horn is now back home after five more days in hospital, but faces a long and painful recovery. The veteran reflected on his service from 2009 to 2013, which included capturing Somali pirates, surviving a tsunami off Japan, and saving five people from drowning. 'I know God still wants me here on Earth because of the bullets, the heart attack, the blood in my lungs, and a 103F fever. I'm making it, but it's breaking me down. I'm just trying not to give up.'
Aftermath and Arrest
The shooting has left Horn with terrifying nightmares every night. Aesdr is also deeply traumatized, taking a two-week break from streaming and breaking down sobbing upon his return. 'I definitely felt like I was the one who should have got shot. Matthew took a bullet for me,' Aesdr said. His housemate Andrew explained the shooting stemmed from a business deal gone wrong: a man contacted them through Instagram to host a small event, but over 100 rowdy people showed up, leading them to call the police. The man was a middleman who lied about the event, and the intruders came looking for money.
Aesdr and his friends identified suspects through Twitch, and four days later, Sean Charles Strong, a wannabe rapper known as YoungBigBro, was arrested on April 22 and charged with attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty and is held on a $2 million bond. No one else has been charged, but some suspects are believed to be minors. A fundraiser was started to cover Horn's $11,000 in out-of-pocket medical bills.
