Guards Attacked at Juvenile Hall; 8 Crips Escape

Eight gang members escaped from a maximum-security juvenile detention facility in Downey after they overpowered two guards, tied them with bed sheets and locked them in a closet early Saturday, authorities said.

The inmates, members of a Crips street gang from the Watts area, beat two guards at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall and used the guards’ keys to flee the facility, said Sgt. Mark Dryer of the Downey Police Deparment.

Timothy Aitken, 23, a guard at the county-run facility, was attacked by at least six youths when he was escorting an inmate back to a dormitory cell after a trip to the bathroom at 3:45 a.m., said Shirley Gray, superintendent of the facility.

One of the youths grabbed Aitken in a “bear hug” while five others hit him with their fists, Dryer said. Fellow guard Troy Cole, 31, heard the disturbance and went to help Aitken but was knocked unconscious, he said. All guards at the facility are unarmed.

“One was just overpowered by sheer numbers, and the other was hit over the head by an object believed to be a chair,” Dryer said.

The youths then locked the guards in a utility closet, removed tables and chairs from the dormitory and stacked them up to scale a 20-foot concrete wall that surrounds the facility, Gray said. Two other youths who witnessed the attack apparently used the opportunity to escape as well.

‘They Were Gone’

Other guards saw the youths scaling the wall but could not prevent them from escaping. “By the time they got there, they were gone,” Gray said, adding that the youths left a trail of footprints leading away from the facility. “(The guards) also heard dogs barking in the neighborhood,” she said.

Officials at the facility contacted sheriff’s deputies and police from Downey, South Gate and other cities to search for the youths. At 6 p.m. Saturday, one of the eight, a 17-year-old youth, returned to the facility accompanied by several family members. He gave authorities no information about the other teen-agers.

By Saturday afternoon, four of the youths had already contacted relatives and parole officers by telephone, Gray said. One apparently had second thoughts about the escape.

“He called his uncle and told him he was distraught by what he had done,” Gray said, adding that the uncle said he was certain his nephew would turn himself in.

Cole and Aitken were discovered in the closet by their fellow guards more than an hour later, Gray said. Cole was treated for facial cuts at Downey Community Hospital and released. Aitken was not injured.

Gray said the escapees are 14 to 17 years old and had been arrested for offenses that include burglary and possession and sale of drugs.

The escape was only one of a series of gang-related attacks late Friday and Saturday that left two men dead.

Late Friday, a Huntington Park man was killed by rival gang members who hit him with a car and dragged him underneath for 200 yards.

Luis Chavez, 21, described by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies as a “known gang member,” was standing at Gage Avenue and Loma Vista Place in Bell at about 10:30 p.m. when a sedan and light-colored pickup truck approached with an unknown number of men, Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Wehner said.

After a short argument, Chavez escaped from the group, running south on Loma Vista Place, Wehner said.

“The suspects got back in their vehicles, caught up with him and he was struck by the car and dragged approximately 200 yards,” Wehner said. Chavez was pronounced dead at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

Earlier Friday, another alleged gang member, Jose Leon, 18, was killed and two fellow gang members wounded in a drive-by shooting on 42nd Street near Long Beach Avenue in South Los Angeles at about 8:30 p.m., Los Angeles police said.

Leon, shot in the stomach and torso, died at California Hospital. The other victims, a 17-year-old male and Juan Lamas, 19, were in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center, police said.

Saturday’s escape at Los Padrinos was the first at the facility since 1987, Gray said. Los Padrinos is one of three juvenile detention facilities operated by the county. Similar facilities are in Sylmar and Lincoln Heights.

Los Padrinos houses 580 inmates, most of whom are awaiting criminal court proceedings. Gray said the facility has a capacity of 410 youths but that the overcrowding has not led to serious safety problems.