Student Couldn’t Escape Violence : Crime: The L.A. youth traveled to Taft High because his family thought it was safer. He dreamed of a sports career. Police seek the gang members who killed him.

Lamoun Thames, 15, used to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to catch a bus that would take him 35 miles from the violence surrounding his home in South-Central Los Angeles to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, an area known for its low rime rate.

But for Lamoun, who dreamed of playing professional football despite his small size and buying a big house for his family, it was not far enough.

He was stabbed to death Wednesday night on Ventura Boulevard across the street from the school, waiting for the bus that would take him home from a preseason football practice where he had just been given a chance to make the varsity team.

Los Angeles police said he was apparently killed by gang members who thought he was a rival. There are no indications he had any gang connections, investigators said.

“His dream was to play football, get a scholarship and go to college. His dream was to help his family out,” his grandmother, Janie Thames, said Friday, sobbing. “He was an exceptionally sweet kid. I still can’t believe this.”

Thames said her son was steered to Taft because his uncle, Michael, had gone there in the 1980s.

“We thought Taft was safe,” said Tanya Thames, Lamoun’s aunt. “He went to Taft because supposedly there was no gang violence out there. But he got killed by gang members in Woodland Hills.”

Los Angeles police said Friday they still have no clues in the case.

“We’re still looking for suspects,” Detective Rick Swanston said. “It could just plain be random. Maybe they wanted to leave their mark in the neighborhood.”

Perhaps killing someone “is their way of breaking in a new member,” Swanston said.

Lamoun was stabbed several times about 10 p.m. Wednesday at Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue as he waited for an RTD bus to take him home to 48th Street and Hooper Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles, police said. He was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at midnight, Swanston said.

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

Witnesses told police the youths asked him, “where are you from?” a common street challenge to determine gang affiliation, Swanston said.

“The victim answered, ‘I’m not from anywhere,’ at which time one of the suspects struck the victim in the face with fists, then stabbed the victim several times in the chest,” Swanston said.

Lamoun tried to escape and managed to run about 50 feet before collapsing, Swanston said.

Lamoun, who was about to begin his sophomore year, grew up in a single-parent family with his mother, Ora Denise, and his 17-year-old sister, Shanise. The family moved several times and returned to Los Angeles about three years ago from Lafayette, La.

Relatives, teachers, coaches and players described him Friday as a quiet young man whose main goal in life was to succeed in football, despite weighing only 140 pounds and standing 5 feet 8 inches. He was starting cornerback last year on Taft’s B team, mainly through determination and hard work, his coaches said.

“Lamoun was the kind of guy who as an adult would be someone a lot of black kids could really look up to,” said Tom Simpkin, his B-team coach. “He was headed in the right direction.”

Simpkin said that when his wife died last year, Lamoun was one of only three players to attend her funeral.

Taft football Coach Troy Starr said he had spoken to Lamoun about 6:30 p.m. just as a preseason team workout was ending. The workouts are voluntary because there are no city buses available to take home students bused in from south of the Santa Monicas.

“The last thing I said to him was ‘you want to play varsity?’ He said yes, I promised to give him a shot and he kind of smiled. Now he’s dead. I’m still shocked.”

Starr said he had started a fund to pay for Lamoun’s funeral, which the family can’t afford. He said checks can be made out to the Taft Booster Club. Late Friday, family members said two South-Central Los Angeles funeral homes had offered them free services.

Also Friday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a request by Councilwoman Rita Walters to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killers.

Melvin Fulcher, 15, a classmate who played defensive back with Lamoun, said he wished he had gone to practice Wednesday.

“Maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” if he had been with him, Fulcher said. “Maybe this would all have turned out different.”

Fulcher, whose brother David is starting safety for the Cincinnati Bengals, said the two boys used to share dreams of fame and success.

“He said once if he made it pro, he wanted to buy a big house for his whole family,” Fulcher said. “We always used to talk about going to the same college together and then going pro.

“But we couldn’t agree on which college. I want to go to Notre Dame and he wanted to go to USC. We would argue about which was better. When Notre Dame beat USC, I really put it in his face.

“It’s surprising when somebody you know just gets killed,” Fulcher continued. “How come this happens to someone who would never start a fight? All that stuff we talked about. All those dreams. All our plans are down the drain, cause of some stupid people.”