Sniper Victim Died Because of a Dare, Court Told

A 14-year-old Pacoima boy told police he was acting on a dare from a 14-year-old friend when he shot and killed a truck driver early this month in a random sniper attack, a Los Angeles Angeles Police officer testified in a juvenile court hearing Monday.

The boy told police he tracked Mark Rodney Sanford through the telescopic sight of a .22-caliber rifle for about two minutes from the window of a second-floor apartment where his friend lived, Detective Larry Minton said.

Sanford, who worked for the Familian Pipe & Supply Co., was in the company’s parking lot next to the apartment house, bending over to detach a truck from a trailer.

His friend repeatedly urged him, “Shoot him. Shoot him now,” Minton testified the boy said.

Then he pulled the trigger, Minton quoted the boy as saying.

Died at Scene

Sanford, 26, of La Crescenta was struck by a bullet that entered his lower back and emerged from his upper chest. He died at the scene.

The testimony came at a pretrial hearing in Sylmar Juvenile Court to determine whether the boys should be released to their parents, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi.

Both boys cried as Commissioner Michael Price ordered them returned to Sylmar Juvenile Hall pending their trial on murder charges. Price said the boys were a threat to public safety, Maurizi said.

Although only one of the boys fired the rifle shot that killed Sanford, both are charged with murder in the shooting because both were present and one “aided and abetted” the shooting, the district attorney’s office has said.

Trial on the charges is set for May 12 before Sylmar Juvenile Court Judge Morton Rochman.

Accused of Shooting Girl

The boy, who allegedly taunted his friend into killing Sanford, is also accused of shooting at an RTD bus on April 1. A passenger on the bus, a 13-year-old Pacoima girl returning home from junior high school, was hit in the upper lip by a bullet fragment. The girl was hospitalized and released after minor surgery.

In other testimony Monday, Detective Carlos Brizzolara said he recovered a .22-caliber rifle, ammunition and spent shell casings at the apartment from where the shots were fired at Sanford and the bus.

California law requires that the boys, because they are under 16, be tried as juveniles. If convicted, the boys could be sent to the California Youth Authority. They could not be held beyond their 25th birthdays.