Slain Youth Was Target of Gang in Retaliatory Shooting, Prosecutor Says

A Lake Forest teen-ager shot to death last December as he talked with his brother and friends was the target of a gang drive-by shooting carried out in retaliation for an earlier altercation, prosecutors said Thursday.

In her opening statement in Orange County Superior Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolyn Kirkwood said Bylan Hanna, 17, was the victim Dec. 28 of a “senseless killing that started out over a small dispute” with Matthew Conant, 19, of Mission Viejo and four other alleged gang members.

Prosecutors allege that Conant was the gunman. He and the four others are charged with murder. The trials of Christopher Womack of Mission Viejo, Carl Stewart of Laguna Niguel and Jason Legare of Mission Viejo will start when Conant’s ends, Kirkwood said.

All have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they each face 25 years to life imprisonment. The fifth defendant, a juvenile, pleaded guilty to firing a gun into an inhabited dwelling and was sentenced to the California Youth Authority for seven years, Kirkwood said.

In testimony Thursday, Bylan Hanna’s brother, Xavier, 20, said he and Bylan went to a party on Dec. 27 and became involved in an argument with Conant and several of his friends. Before the altercation broke up, the two sides exchanged threats, Xavier Hanna said.

The next night, Hanna testified, he was talking in his bedroom with his brother and four others when a red sports car drove by and momentarily stopped in front of the driveway. Several seconds later, three shots rang out, and everyone in the room ducked for cover, he testified.

Matt Rominger, 18, one of the friends who was in the room, later testified that when the shooting stopped, he looked around and saw Bylan slumped against a wall, his knees drawn up against his chest and his eyes closed.

Bylan never regained consciousness, Rominger said.