Two Teen-Agers Held in Killing of 15-Year-Old

Los Angeles police arrested two Canoga Park teen-agers Saturday in the early morning shooting death of a 15-year-old Hollywood youth at a popular teen disco in Van Nuys. Both of the suspects also are 15 years old.

Police said Mark J. Miller was shot in the chest after an argument with one of the suspects at 2 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot at Hot Trax, 6515 Van Nuys Blvd. Friends of the two suspects said that the argument was between the two youths and several alleged members of the Fight for Freedom, a Valley-based street gang. The friends said the fight had been sparked by a comment about Miller’s girlfriend’s hairdo.

Police did not release the identities of the suspects because of their age. They were taken to Van Nuys Jail, where they were booked on suspicion of murder.

Police Saturday afternoon found a red moped, believed to have been the escape vehicle for the shooting suspect and an accomplice, in a driveway in the 17400 block of Donmetz Street in Granada Hills, police Lt. L. A. Durrer said.

Police wearing bulletproof vests and assisted by canine teams then began a door-to-door sweep through the neighborhood and also questioned motorists in the area. The two suspects were found in a nearby garage in the 17400 block of Index Street.

Detective Mel Arnold said police had traced the two fugitives to the area after interviewing several witnesses at the night club Friday night.

A 15-year-old Granada Hills girl was arrested on suspicion of harboring a fugitive after she allegedly helped the two suspects temporarily escape police.

Arnold said the shooting was the worst incident in a continuing series of problems police have had with the Hot Trax and other teen night clubs.

A former Fight for Freedom gang member said in an earlier interview that FFF members had recently chosen Hot Trax as a hangout after leaving Phases, a Canoga Park teen club that has been the focus of strong complaints by parents and neighbors. There are only three teen clubs in Los Angeles, all in the San Fernando Valley.

Witnesses to the attack ranged in age from 13 to 17 years. Several of them apparently were at the club with parental consent, thus avoiding a violation of the city curfew law, which is 10 p.m.

Clubs for teen-agers have been the focus of citywide controversy this spring and summer, after parental complaints about drug use and rowdiness at some of the clubs.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley has signed an ordinance that will prohibit 13- and 14-year-olds from entering teen clubs without a consent form signed by their parents. The ordinance, which will take effect Aug. 31, will also require the clubs to close by 10 p.m. on nights before a school day, and by 1 a.m. on other nights.

Currently, the clubs may stay open until 2 a.m.