Shooting Increases Fears Over Safety : Crimes: Gunfire that killed 12-year-old outside Boys & Girls Club in Pacoima has some wondering if any havens remain for neighborhood youth.

It was supposed to be a place that was safe and fun for children and teen-agers--and for 27 years, it was.

But for the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley in Pacoima, that ended early Saturday in a burst of gang gunfire that killed 12-year-old Tiffany Dozier.

The shooting outside the club, after a dance put on by teen-agers, has left club volunteers, directors and parents working to improve security and wondering if any havens remain for neighborhood youth.

“We’re living under a blanket of fear,” said Leroy Chase, executive director of the club. “If you can’t have activities at a Boys & Girls Club, where can you have them?”

Tiffany, a seventh-grader at Maclay Junior High School, was waiting to be picked up by her parents in front of the club at about 12:30 a.m. when a fight began and she was shot once by gang members driving by in a car, police said. She died at the scene, and police have made no arrests in the case.

There were no fights inside the dance, a fund-raiser for the club’s wrestling team and leadership group. About 170 teen-agers attended the dance.

Organizers said about 15 volunteers--wrestling team coaches and parents--handled security. They wore bright yellow shirts and were visible both inside and outside the club after the event ended.

Volunteers frisked teen-agers for drugs, alcohol or weapons before they entered the dance, said Harvey H. Rosen, a member of the club’s board of directors.

“The problem didn’t come from inside the facility,” Rosen said. “It came from outside . . . and it’s very hard to control what goes on out in the street.”

Parents said they felt comfortable sending their children to the club in the past because of plentiful adult supervision.

“The club has more than substantial security,” said Linda Harris, a volunteer whose daughter and nephews were club members. “If I didn’t think the kids were safe, I wouldn’t let them go.”

Chase, however, said he was called by several parents wondering if the club had been shut down or if they should keep their children away for fear of another shooting.

“But where can children go in safety today?” countered Chase, who blamed neither club security nor the Los Angeles Police Department for the incident.

He pointed instead to rising gang violence in Los Angeles County, especially the northeast San Fernando Valley.

He said club leaders and several local churches will stage a community rally at 9 a.m. today at the club at 11251 Glenoaks Blvd. “to put our heads together and try to come up with solutions to the violence.”

Members of an executive committee of the board of directors met Monday morning to discuss ways to guarantee children’s safety, and teen-age club members will meet later this week to discuss their worries following the slaying.

Chase said there are no plans to cancel club dances, usually held about four times a year, but organizers will take more safety precautions.

Club directors will try to recruit more volunteer guards for events, Rosen said. The club will also purchase portable two-way radios for supervisors and may ask the Police Department’s Foothill Division to increase patrols when youths leave the dances. Efforts are also under way to recruit more parents to drive children home after dances, he said.

“The important thing, though, is doing something about the root problem of violence,” Chase said. “We don’t intend to make this an armed camp.”

Times staff writer Carol Watson also contributed to this story.