Taft High Student Is Slain : Woodland Hills: Officials believe Lamoun Thames’ killers thought he was from a rival gang. He is stabbed while waiting for a bus.

A Taft High School student waiting for a bus was stabbed to death in Woodland Hills by youths who apparently mistook him for a member of a rival gang, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

Lamoun Thames, 15, who was to enter the 10th grade this fall, was stabbed several times about 10 p.m. Wednesday at Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue, police said. The youth was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he died at midnight, Detective Rick Swanston said.

A resident of South Los Angeles, Thames had gone to the school for a preseason workout for football and had missed a bus that would take him home. Moments before the attack, he had called his family and told them he would be late.

The incident began when a carload of youths pulled up next to Thames, who was sitting on a wall, and several jumped out and surrounded him, Swanston said.

Witnesses told police the youths challenged Thames by shouting “Where are you from?” The phrase is used on the street to determine a stranger’s gang affiliation, Swanston said.

After “the victim answered ‘I’m not from anywhere’ ” one of the youths began hitting him in the face and then stabbed him several times in the chest, Swanston said.

Thames tried to escape and managed to run about 50 feet before collapsing.

“It’s possible that they mistook him for a gang member, but they might not have even cared,” Swanston said. “It’s a brutal act. They attacked for no reason. There were several people in the parking lot who witnessed it.”

Both Swanston and Taft Principal Ronald Berz said the youth was not believed to be involved with any gangs.

“He didn’t have any serious behavioral problems,” Berz said. “Though he did not do too well in his classes, he was interested in playing football.”

Although football practice does not begin until Aug. 18, many students participate in voluntary preseason workouts, Berz said.

The principal said the slaying is proof that “these things can happen anywhere.” He said the killing has demoralized school staff as well as parents whose children are bused to Valley schools from other areas.

“We’re totally shocked by it. This is not the way to start out the school year,” Berz said. “This is terrible.”