NEWBURY PARK : 2 Teen-Age Girls Stabbed; 2 Arrested

Two Thousand Oaks teen-age girls have been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after they allegedly stabbed two girls of a rival group during a fight outside a fast-food restaurant in Newbury Park, authorities said Thursday.

The victims, who received minor wounds, and their assailants associate with members of two local gangs, Ventura Sheriff’s Lt. Ernie Montagna said. Because all are minors, no names were released.

A 17-year-old Newbury Park High School student and a 15- year-old Thousand Oaks High School student were arrested Wednesday evening and booked into Clifton Tatum Center for juveniles. A third girl was released for insufficient evidence.

The incident began at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when three girls approached the Del Taco restaurant on Ventu Park Road and exchanged remarks with three girls who were eating outside, said Ventura Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Montijo.

Words quickly escalated to blows, with all six involved in the fracas, Montijo said. “It was wild,” said a store employee. “They were hitting each other and pulling their hair.”

When the fight ended, the first group drove away. Only then did two of the girls, both 16 and students at Conejo Valley High School, realize that they had been stabbed, Montijo said.

One was cut on the chin and stabbed in the chest, and the other was cut on the back of the neck, Montijo said. They drove to Los Robles Regional Medical Center for treatment and were later released.