2 Killed, 3 Wounded in Fighting at 3 Parties : Gangs: Police in three cities said the violence occurred after Saturday night gatherings were crashed by rival groups.

Three Saturday night parties in Los Alamitos, Santa Ana and Buena Park erupted into bloody street fights among gang members, leaving two teen-agers dead and three seriously wounded, police said.

The shootings and stabbings were unrelated, but all three melees involved large parties that apparently were crashed by rival gang members. Police said it is unusual for gangs to have such street brawls, noting that they typically attack rivals in drive-by shootings.

“Gang members are like everyone else, and Saturday night is party night,” said Buena Park Police Lt. Patrick Black. “If rival gang members want to provoke something, they usually know where to find them. But most of the time it leads to drive-by shootings. I can’t recall another one here like this in 10 years.”

In Los Alamitos, police were called at 11:10 p.m. to 3952 San Mateo Ave., a residential street in the city’s northern tip, sandwiched between Cypress and Long Beach. Apparently a fight had erupted in the street among the guests and an uninvited group of people from a rival gang, police said.

A 16-year-old boy, apparently the host of the party, was stabbed to death. One of his guests, a 19-year-old male, was in serious condition with stab wounds at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, police said Sunday.

After a helicopter search, police arrested a 17-year-old youth and a 19-year-old man, both from Los Alamitos, and were holding them for questioning. As many as three other suspects remained at large Sunday, police said. Police declined to identify any of the suspects or victims.

Gang violence is rare in Los Alamitos, and police there declined to discuss gang problems in the city. But Cypress police, who patrol streets within a block of the double stabbing, said they have seen increased gang activity in their city.

“There’s been a noticeable increase over the last year or two. More and more of our patrol people are coming in contact with various gangs,” Cypress Sgt. Sandy Stanton said.

“We’re still pretty untouched, compared to L.A. County,” she said. “It’s pretty unusual to have something this major occur. Mostly we just see more graffiti. It’s nothing real big right now, but three or four years down the road may be something else entirely.”

On Sunday, pools of blood still caked the sidewalk and driveway in front of the San Mateo Avenue house, a gray wood and brick home with a child’s inflatable swimming pool on the front porch roof.

Neighbors identified the dead boy as Eddie Naverette, who had recently moved there with his mother and a younger brother and sister.

Roger Rangel, who had been Naverette’s stepfather until he and the boy’s mother divorced, said Sunday that he did not think the boy was in a gang. Rangel said the boy had dropped out of school, was working with his uncle’s construction company and spent a lot of time with his girlfriend and 1-year-old daughter Alexis.

Neighbors said they have never seen gangs in their middle-class neighborhood of single family homes, which is about two blocks from Los Alamitos High School.

“I hope it’s an isolated incident,” said John Balestracci, 56, who lives across the street from the house where the party was held. “The mother just recently took over the house.”

His wife, Jo Ann Balestracci, 31, said they watched part of the fight from a window in their home.

“All you saw were people running in all directions. We heard lots of yelling and heard a girl screaming. And we heard some kid yelling, ‘You’re going to die, boy, you’re going to die!’ ”

About the same time as the Los Alamitos stabbings, Santa Ana police found a 17-year-old shot dead and another 17-year-old with a gunshot wound to the head at 1100 S. Rosewood Ave.

The two teens were not identified. The injured youth was in critical condition Sunday at an unidentified hospital, police said. They had no suspects Sunday.

Santa Ana police said shootings grew out of a street fight involving two rival gangs that had converged at a party.

One witness said he called police about 10 p.m. to break up the party, but officers did not immediately respond.

“I called four times over there. They said they were too busy,” said Frank Balderrama, who lives on Rosewood Avenue.

“There was loud music and cars in the street so I called police. Then, about five minutes later, there were 30 to 50 youths out there, pushing and shoving,” Balderrama said. “I called (police) again. Then I heard bottles being broken. Some guys went in their cars and got chains. I called again. Then I heard five shots.

“It’s a disgrace, the way (police) handled this. If they had cooperated with the first call I made, (the victim) wouldn’t be dead,” Balderrama said. “This town needs more police officers on weekends.”

Police said Sunday that they could not comment on Balderrama’s complaints because the officers involved were not present.

Earlier Saturday night, about 8:30 p.m., Buena Park police received a call about a large party that had ended in gunfire on Flamingo Drive, Lt. Black said.

Gabriel Orozco, 18, of Cypress, was shot twice, with one bullet lodging in his left elbow and another hitting his gallbladder. He was in serious but stable condition Sunday after several hours of surgery at UCI Medical Center.

Police said at least two gangs were involved in the Buena Park shooting, but they had no suspects.

Times staff writer Lucy Chabot contributed to this story.

UNRELATED GANG SHOOTINGS Two teen-agers were killed and three seriously injured Saturday night when three seperate parties in North Orange County eruppted int violence that police say was gang-related. An 18-year-old Cypress youth was shot twice at a large party at 6072 Flamingo Drive in Buena Park. He is in serious but stable condition. Police have no suspects. A 16-year-old boy who apparently was the host of a party was stabbed to death at 3952 San Mateo Ave. In Los Alamitos, A 19-year-old guest was seriously wounded. Two youths were arrested for questioning, and police said they were searching for as many as three others. A 17-year-old boy was killed and another 17-year-old was shot in the head in the 1200 block of Rosewood Avenue in Santa Ana. Police said shots were fired between rival gangs at a large party in the street. There were no suspects.