2 Students Killed in Collision With Fleeing Suspect

Two Valley high school students on their way home from a pep rally were killed Friday night after a motorist--who was being pursued by police in a gang-related shooting--sped through a red light and slammed into their car.

A third student in the car suffered minor injuries in the 9:10 p.m. accident at Chatsworth Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Mission Hills, police said.

Arrested was Ray Vargas Servin, 21, whose pickup slammed into a car driven by Uriel Fernandez, 16, of Pacoima.

Uriel, a junior at San Fernando High School, was taken to San Fernando Community Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Aracely Hernandez, 18, of San Fernando died at the scene.

She was a senior and a cheerleader at Sylmar High School.

Juan Melendrez, 16, of Pacoima was treated for cuts and bruises at Holy Cross Medical Center and released to his parents. Melendrez’s family said he was recovering at home Saturday.

The deaths are the latest in a series of violent gang incidents that have claimed the lives of innocent bystanders in the northeastern San Fernando Valley. Both San Fernando and Sylmar high schools have lost students to gang violence in the last year.

The three students were on their way home from a pep rally at Sylmar High School, driving south on Laurel Canyon when their car was struck by Servin’s pickup, which was traveling through the residential neighborhood at 55 to 60 m.p.h., said Officer Dennis Smith.

Police said Servin, who was being held without bail at Van Nuys Jail, was involved in a gang-related shooting a few blocks away minutes before the fatal collision. A passenger in Servin’s car, Sergio Alvidrez, 28, of Canyon Country was injured in the crash, but was not arrested. He was treated at Holy Cross and released.

Witnesses said Servin and several other suspected gang members became involved in a fight outside a house on Louvre Street, a few blocks from the accident scene. During the fight, he allegedly pulled a handgun and fired several shots.

San Fernando police Sgt. Michael Harvey heard the shots and went to the scene. When he arrived, he saw Servin’s pickup leaving and gave chase.

With lights flashing, Harvey chased Servin west on Chatsworth at speeds of up to 60 m.p.h. Servin ran a red light at Laurel Canyon, colliding with Uriel’s car.

Amer Elzaif, a clerk at a nearby convenience store, said he heard “some huge, big sound.”

Immediately after the crash, Elzaif said Servin and Alvidrez attempted to run from the scene. “I saw some people escaping from the pickup,” he said. “I called police. It was terrible.”

The two men were taken into custody minutes later a short distance away, police said.

Authorities said Servin appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

Daniel Isaacs, assistant superintendent of senior high schools for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said psychologists will be at the teen-agers’ schools on Monday to counsel other students.

The incident was the second time in less than two weeks that San Fernando High School has lost a student to gang violence, said Manuel Velazquez, a Community Youth Gang Services Project counselor who graduated from the school.

On May 19, 18-year-old Ricardo Olivares, who graduated from the school last year and was a premed student at UCLA, was shot by two suspected gang members who confronted him at a convenience store one block north of the site of Friday’s crash, Los Angeles police said.

The two alleged gang members, Albert Muro, 24, of Mission Hills and Arthur Rivera, 23, of San Fernando were arrested several days later and charged last week with the student’s murder.

Sylmar High School also has suffered from the surge in gang violence in the area, Velazquez said. Last August, Sylmar High student Jimmie Torrez III was beaten and shot to death by alleged gang members on a San Fernando street. The assailants mistakenly thought Torrez had killed a member of a gang with which they were associated, police said.

One of Torrez’s assailants pleaded guilty last week to voluntary manslaughter, while the two others are expected to stand trial on murder charges this week in San Fernando Superior Court.