RESEDA : Boy, 15, Is Shot During Car Chase

A 15-year-old-boy was listed in critical condition Thursday night after he was shot in the face while fleeing three men, who chased him by car through Reseda, police said.

The unidentified youth and four friends were standing near their car, parked at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies at 18605 Erwin St., when they were approached by three men in a 1976 blue Ford Mustang, one of whom asked the group “Where are you from?” Police Sgt. Dan Mastro said. The question is a traditional gang challenge.

The youth and his friends told the men that they didn’t belong to a gang, Mastro said. One of the passengers in the Mustang then flashed a handgun at the teen-ager and his friends, who got into their car and drove off.

The men followed the youths and fired several shots at them, one striking the 15-year-old boy in the face, Mastro said. The assailants fled.

The youth was listed in “very critical condition” at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, nursing supervisor Anne Lipman said.

The boys had initially gone to the center to pick up the girlfriend of one of the youths, Mastro said.