Alecia Foster
HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL -- A 17-year-old student died Friday night after
being stabbed several times with a knife and hit in the head with a
crowbar during a fight with a gang member, police said.
The fight occurred about 3:45 p.m. in front of the Hoover High School
where the student and another young man, a former Hoover High student,
were sitting, said Glendale Police spokesman Sgt. Rick Young.
"A carload with two or three males drove up and started a verbal
argument with them," Young said.
A preliminary investigation of the incident determined two men got out
of the car and started a fist fight with the students, he said.
At some point, the fight moved across the street in front of Toll
Middle School.
"It was not clear who chased whom," he said.
There the 17-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age,
was hit in the head with the crowbar and stabbed four times in the back,
chest and abdomen, Young said.
He was taken to L.A. County-USC Medical Center. The young man he was
with ran off but was later found by police, Young said. He did not
immediately appear to be harmed.
Both young men in the car also left the scene. Police, however, later
found and arrested one of them a few blocks away, he said.
Little information about the person arrested was immediately available
Friday evening.
"The suspect we have in custody is a gang member," Young said. He
would not say whether police believe the fight was gang-related incident.
Hoover High Co-principal Kevin Welsh said school officials had no
comment and that the matter would be handled by police.
Pam Ellis, a Glendale Board of Education member, was out of town when
the stabbing happened but said the district had notified her about it.
Ellis said she was "distressed and shocked."
"This is unacceptable," Ellis said. "This is not an attack on a
school, this is an attack on our community."
Police said they are investigating the matter and did not want to
release the type of car the two youths were driving. They said the
crowbar and knife were recovered.
