Reasons Sought for Shooting of 2 Torrance Teen-Agers in Home

A 16-year-old boy shot in the leg during an attack on his Torrance home says he has no idea why the gunman targeted his home.

The boy, a sophomore at North High School in Torrance, and a 16-year-old classmate were injured Saturday night while listening to music with a third friend in the bedroom of a house in the 16900 block of Eastwood Avenue.

The boy, who asked that his name be withheld to protect him from further attack, said he and his friends had no warning of the shooting. He rejected police statements that the shooting was gang-related.

A bullet struck him just above the knee and lodged in his hip as he sat in a chair facing an open window. He was reported in good condition. His friend was injured more seriously but is expected to recover after being shot in the neck.

The third boy in the room was not injured.

Police, who say they may be looking for more than one person, have made no arrests.

“We didn’t hear nothing until it was happening,” the boy said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed. “I seen the curtains fly open, and I seen a gun, and all of a sudden there was blood all over.”

Police have said at least three shots were fired. The youth said he heard only one shot before he managed to crawl from the room and seek help from his father.

The teen-ager, who said he spends most of his after-school hours surfing in Manhattan Beach, said he has no idea who would want to shoot him.

Police comments Sunday that the incident may be gang-related “is just a wild guess,” he said.

“The way we dress and do our hair, that’s what they think we are, but we’re not.”

The youth’s mother said in a telephone interview that several other boys from North High School had been harassing her son during the last few weeks.

“We don’t know what caused this,” she said. “We’d tell you if we knew.”

Neighbors said the family has lived in the house, in a quiet area of north Torrance, for about 12 years. Although the boy and his brother “were typical noisy teen-agers,” one neighbor said, neither had caused any real trouble.

“They would do the loud music bit, with the speakers out on the lawn, and there would be friends coming and going through that window, but nothing really unusual for kids,” said the neighbor, who declined to give his name.

“They’re a nice family, and these are decent kids,” he said. “I know there was nothing we saw leading up to this.”