Teen Shot to Death While Celebrating Team’s Win

A 17-year-old boy was shot to death at a popular doughnut shop across from North Hollywood High School, where more than 100 students had gathered to celebrate their football team’s victory, police said Saturday.

The students’ elation Friday night over the Huskies’ 31-20 victory against the Monroe High School Vikings ended in screams and tears when a gang member killed Glen Richard Avila, said Sgt. John Stilo of the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division.

Police were seeking Louis Arturo Velarde on suspicion of murder, Stilo said. Velarde, 22, is 5-feet, 11-inches tall, 180 pounds and has tattoos over his upper body, including one on his arm that says “Blondie,” Stilo said. Police would not disclose how they linked Velarde, who they said is a gang member who does not attend the high school, to the incident.

About 15 minutes after the game ended, the gunman approached Avila in the parking lot of the Yum Yum Donuts shop across the street from the North Hollywood school, Stilo said. Avila, a senior who police said did not belong to a gang, had joined friends at the doughnut shop to celebrate the team’s victory, although he did not attend the game, police said.

The assailant muttered a slogan and shot Avila once in the chest with a handgun before running away, Stilo said.

“We don’t know why the guy picked him--it appears he just shot him in cold blood,” Stilo said.

Some students said Avila had gotten into an argument with a reputed gang member at the high school earlier Friday during the mid-morning recess. A teacher had to break up the confrontation, said Tamika McKinon, 15, of North Hollywood.

“Maybe they decided to get back at him,” McKinon said. “It’s a shame because he was a real nice guy.”

The shooting scattered students, who ran into the doughnut shop screaming and crying, said Wilman Monje, the sole employee working in the store at the time.

By the time the victorious football team arrived at the Taco Bell across the street from the doughnut shop, the incident was over, said John Gawrouski, 18, a linebacker on the team.

Avila’s murder is the second confrontation after a Friday night football game in two weeks. Frank Rivero, manager of the doughnut shop, said a fight broke out last weekend after the game.

“This is becoming a dangerous area,” Rivero said. “The only reason I’m not scared is that I don’t work nights.”

Elio Daniel, manager of the Taco Bell, said he has called police several times this fall when his teen-age workers warned him to expect post-game trouble. The problems are not caused by unhappy fans of losing teams, but arise from other rivalries, he said.