Boy Dropped From School Team, Goes on a Rampage

A 17-year-old youth, enraged because he was dropped from his high school basketball team, went on a rampage in his family’s home, destroying furniture, threatening his mother with a baseball bat and firing shots from his father’s rifle, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

The Palos Verdes High School student, whose two older brothers were basketball stars at the school before going to college on athletic scholarships, used the bat to smash windows, mirrors, lamps, appliances and other household items, authorities said. He then took his father’s rifle and began firing shots inside the home.

There were no injuries in the 11:15 p.m. Thursday outburst. The youth’s mother fled to a neighbor’s house for safety.

“The interior of the home was almost completely destroyed,” said Detective Joe Eubanks of the sheriff’s Lomita Station. “Virtually every window was broken, furniture broken, appliances, oven, stove, television, microwave--all were smashed.”

Damage was estimated at $20,000.

Arraignment Set

After a psychiatric examination that concluded he was not a danger to himself or others, the youth was taken Friday to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. He will be arraigned Tuesday in Inglewood Juvenile Court on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism.

“His expulsion from the basketball team seems to have brought this on,” Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Malone said.

He said the youth and his father had argued the previous day about his status on the team. School officials declined comment.

Authorities said the 6-foot, 5-inch, 195-pound youth apparently was dropped from the team Thursday afternoon. He arrived home late Thursday and went to his room, where he spent half an hour before he began smashing windows and furniture in the room, detectives said.

When his mother tried to stop him, he threatened her and she telephoned the sheriff. The youth’s father arrived home a short time later.

The youth appeared at the front door with his father’s rifle, but authorities said all shots were fired inside the house and not into the neighborhood.

Neighbors Shocked

The incident shocked neighbors along quiet Packet Road, a sloping, tree-lined street of 30-year-old homes near the coastline east of Marineland.

Sheriffs officers cordoned off the neighborhood and used a helicopter loudspeaker to order people to stay in their homes. Alone in the house, the youth was called from a neighbor’s home and agreed to come out. He was held at the Lomita station.

A neighbor described the family, which includes four boys, as a “model family with children who are very studious and good in sports.”