2 Teens Stabbed in Unprovoked Gang Attack, Police Say

Two people were stabbed and five cars were damaged when a group suspected of being gang members attacked a gathering of young people at a La Habra hamburger stand Saturday.

The attackers, armed with knives, hammers and baseball bats, apparently thought the young people at Tommy’s hamburger stand were affiliated with another gang, Sgt. Phil Stufflebean said. The attackers had had an “altercation” with rival gang members at the hamburger stand earlier and returned “with a stronger show of force,” he said.

But the victims have no ties to any gangs, he said.

It was an “unprovoked attack,” he said. “Basically, this group of youths from the Whittier area had gotten together. Several of them were going off to college, and they happened to meet up there and have some hamburgers. They apparently were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The attack occurred about 2:15 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot at 1315 W. Whittier Blvd., Stufflebean said. About 10 young people were standing around a car, eating hamburgers and talking when about 12 suspects arrived and began attacking them and damaging several cars.

An 18-year-old from Whittier was stabbed five times in the chest, arm and back. He was treated at Whittier Presbyterian Hospital and released. A 17-year-old stabbed in the arm also was treated at a hospital. Their names were not released because of fear of retaliation.

The attackers broke car windows with the hammers and bashed in car hoods with the baseball bats, Stufflebean said. No one has been arrested.

Stufflebean said the attackers “have a definite gang affiliation. They returned with weapons and just seized upon this group,” he said.

The Whittier youths “were innocent victims, just being there,” he said.