Police Say 2 Suspects Shared Gun : Slayings: The youths reportedly admitted that the killings of three young women in Pasadena occurred after an argument with one of them.

Two suspects in a triple slaying last week in an exclusive Pasadena neighborhood allegedly passed a 12-gauge pump shotgun between them to shoot three young women in the head at close range, police said Monday.

Police also said the suspects told them the killings occurred about an hour after they argued with one of the victims, but the suspects could not remember what the argument was about.

“It boggles the mind,” said Pasadena Lt. Van B. Anthony. “There was one gun, two shooters and three people killed.”

Late Monday, Los Angeles County district attorney’s officials filed three counts each of murder with special circumstances--meaning they will seek the death penalty--against David Adkins, 16, and Burt Vinny Hebrock, 17, both of South Pasadena.

The two were arrested Friday in Salem, Ore. On Monday, they agreed to return to California to face murder charges. They were expected to be returned today.

The shotgun, which belonged to the parents of one of the victims, has been retrieved from the Grants Pass, Ore., area by Oregon police, Anthony said.

One victim, 18-year-old Heather Goodwin of San Marino, and one of the suspects argued before the slayings, police said.

Questioned by Pasadena detectives last weekend, the suspects said they could not recall the nature of the argument. “We still don’t know who called who what or who said what to who,” Anthony said.

Police said that Cayle Fielder, 16, of Alhambra, who was originally described as a suspect, was present during the killings at the $685,000 gated home in the well-to-do Annandale neighborhood.

Fielder went to Seattle with his mother after the shootings but has returned and is considered a witness, Anthony said.

It was Fielder who telephoned a friend about what had happened early Friday, police said. The friend contacted the parents of one of the victims, police said, and the parents called the police.

Police discovered the bodies of Goodwin, Danae Palermo, 17, of Alhambra, and Katherine Macaulay, 18, early Friday in the pool house of the home of Michael Koss and Linda Macaulay, the stepfather and mother of Macaulay.

Adkins, Fielder and all of the victims were current or former South Pasadena High School students.

Friends of Macaulay referred to the pool house where the slayings took place, a short walk from the main house, as “Kathy’s house.”

Police say they cannot reveal many details of the killings because the two suspects are juveniles. But because of the seriousness of the crime, authorities will apply to Los Angeles County Juvenile Court to have the two tried as adults, Anthony said.

A sketchy scenario shows that an argument erupted about 10 p.m. Thursday between one of the suspects and Goodwin. Neighbors reported hearing shouting between a man and a woman about that time.

Police would not reveal which suspect engaged in the argument, which “evolved into an actual physical fight,” Anthony said.

But they said “a considerable amount of beer” was found at the scene of the crime. Toxicological tests were being performed by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office to determine whether the victims had ingested drugs. “The question of drugs remains unknown,” Anthony said.

After the argument, Adkins and Hebrock left the apartment, Anthony said. An hour or two later, they returned, carrying a 12-gauge shotgun they got from the Macaulay-Koss residence, Anthony said.

Anthony would not say how police knew this or whether the two had confessed. After the shootings, the two fled in a maroon Mercedes 300D belonging Macaulay’s parents, Anthony said.

On Friday night, an Adkins relative told Salem police that the suspects were at the Greyhound bus station in Salem. Salem police found the two sitting outside the bus station at 9:15 p.m., said Salem Police Sgt. Larry Stephens. The two said they had arrived by bus, but police found the Mercedes parked about a block away, Stephens said.