Friday the 13th Fears Turn Out Deadly Real

A 14-year-old Westminster girl, who had told her grandmother that “something bad” would strike her on Friday the 13th, was killed only hours later when a gunman fired several shots into a crowd at a street party here late Friday night.

Authorities said Lilia Vianey Guevara was shot at least once in the chest about 10 p.m. Friday while she and her friends were standing outside an apartment complex on a cul-de-sac at 15551 Boleyn Circle, near the Costa Mesa Freeway.

After firing the shots, the gunman fled, Tustin Police Lt. Frank Semelsberger said. There were no other injuries, and police had not made an arrest as of late Saturday. Authorities said the shooting was related to gangs.

Relatives said Lilia, a sophomore at Westminster High School, had attended the school’s home football game Friday night against La Quinta High before she and her friends headed to the party in Tustin.

The victim’s grandmother, Evelia Sanchez, 57, said Saturday that the girl had premonitions that “something bad was going to happen to her” Friday night.

Before Lilia left home Friday, she hugged her grandmother and said, “I love you very much, Mama. But today is a very bad-luck day,” said Sanchez, noting that her granddaughter was “worried all week” that bad luck would strike her on Friday.

A steady stream of friends and relatives visited Lilia’s home in the 7200 block of 21st Street in Westminster, where she lived with her grandmother and an aunt. Sanchez said she had taken care of Lilia since she was 3 months old.

“She was always a happy girl with a lot of friends,” Sanchez said. “She was so well liked. She had no enemies, that’s for sure.”

Christine Lopez, a supervisor of gang victim services with Community Services Programs Inc., said Lilia was a “typical teen-age girl who fell victim to gang violence.”

The Irvine-based community-service organization contracts with law enforcement agencies throughout the county to provide gang-prevention services.

“She went to a party, saw there was trouble and before she had a chance to get out, she became a victim,” Lopez said. “It was so senseless.”

Lilia was either leaving the party or had just arrived when the shooting occurred, police said. Friends rushed the teen-ager to Healthcare Medical Center of Tustin, less than a mile away, where she died.

Police said at least 50 people were at the party when the shooting occurred. Many of the party-goers fled after the shots.

“There was a lot of turmoil after the shooting,” Lt. Semelsberger said. “People wanted to get out of there.”

Investigators want to know whether an argument led to a fight before the shooting, he said.

“Right now, we don’t know what exactly happened,” Semelsberger said. “We’re terribly upset about this shooting. We want to find the gunman.”

On Saturday afternoon, detectives were still interviewing several witnesses.

Neighbors and police said the cul-de-sac, which is encircled by several apartment complexes, is the site of frequent weekend parties where young people gather to drink beer and listen to music. The lawn along the street was still littered Saturday afternoon with beer cans and cigarette butts.

Luis Cardenas, 19, who lives across the street from the shooting scene, said the area is frequently disturbed by gunfire.

“When I got here last night at 8:30, there was nobody out there,” Cardenas said. “But then when my sister got home around 9:30, she came in and said there were like 100 guys outside, all drinking and everything.”

“Later I heard shots,” he said. “There were like 10 or 11 shots spread out throughout the night. But I didn’t see nothing. When I heard it, you know, me and my girlfriend stayed in here. I didn’t know about the girl.”

Times staff writer Geoff Boucher contributed to this story.