Student, 17, Shot in Apparent Gang Attack at School

The official motto of Los Angeles High School, written in delicate black script and mounted on a gold banner, speaks of “Obedience to Law, Respect for Others and Mastery of Self.”

Principal Patrick diSantis has his own motto, and if it seems alarming, it is only because Los Angeles High is not so different from other schools.

“All high schools have gangs and there are gangs on campus, of course,” DiSantis said. “Our motto is, ‘This is neutral turf and nothing comes down on campus.’ ”

But that doesn’t stop gang members from cruising Olympic Boulevard in front of the school, and it certainly wasn’t enough to help Allan Albano when the gunfire erupted Friday morning.

Police said Albano, a 17-year-old sophomore, was shot twice when members of a local gang opened fire on a rival gang that had congregated across the street from the school at the corner of Olympic and Muirfield Road. Albano was shot once in the back and once in the left leg, but was listed in stable condition at Midway Hospital Medical Center.

According to witnesses, Albano was mingling with other students near a graffiti-covered building at 7:15 a.m. when a car carrying three Latino youths pulled up. One youth stepped out, pointed a handgun and fired five or six times.

Police Detective Paul Robi said Albano apparently was not the target of the shooting.

“They were shooting at another, known gang member,” said Robi. “He was smart enough to run but he (Albano) was a little slow getting out of the way.”

After questioning Albano at the hospital, Robi said it was apparent that Albano was simply in the wrong place when the shooting broke out.

“It was just an early morning shoot-out,” Robi said. “He (Albano) just didn’t move fast enough.”

Robi said a local gang, which he declined to name, routinely congregates in front of the school at 4650 W. Olympic Blvd. before classes begin at 8 a.m. Robi said detectives had identified the gang and that investigators were working to identify the three youths responsible for the shooting.

Arvin Eslit, who described himself as Albano’s best friend, said Albano often arrived early for classes because his aunt drove him to school.

“I told him not to hang out on that corner because a lot of gangsters pass by there,” said Eslit, a senior who said he befriended Albano last year. “Allan wouldn’t listen to me. He was probably waiting for some friends to come.”

Eslit said Albano was not a member of a gang “but he dressed like a gangster . . . baggy pants, his hair down his back. I guess somebody made a mistake. He shouldn’t have been on that corner.”

Robi said shootings around the school have been rare, and he praised school administrators for working to keep gang violence to a minimum.

“They work well with the police and have an outstanding school police program,” Robi said. “Any big high school is going to have kids hanging out there, but that school is not famous for shootings. There has been nothing like this.”

School Principal DiSantis said the high school, with an enrollment of nearly 2,800, was normally “very quiet.”

“We have not had a lot of these kind of problems,” he said. “But these things happen. All schools have problems.”