Boyfriend Charged in Girl’s Slaying Suspected of Prior Attack : Pacoima: Authorities say possessive youth may have terrorized Blanca Medina for months.

Fourteen-year-old Blanca Medina was so terrified of her teen-age boyfriend that she kept dating him even after he shot her several times, telling her parents and police that she was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

Last weekend, just three months later, he shot her again.

And this time, he killed her.

That was one theory offered by police Wednesday as prosecutors filed murder charges against a 16-year-old North Hollywood boy who they say shot and killed Blanca and dumped her body in a Kagel Canyon creek bed.

Authorities Wednesday also sought to have the suspected gunman charged as an adult, so he can be sentenced to more than the nine years maximum prison time he would serve if convicted in Juvenile Court.

“Given the nature of the crime of murder, the danger which he presents to the community and the heinousness of the crime, nine years is just not enough,” Deputy Dist. Atty. William Ryder said. “We have deemed him unfit for Juvenile Court.”

Authorities also disclosed Wednesday that the same caliber gun used to fatally shoot Blanca several times in the torso was used when she was shot Jan. 11.

That shooting occurred at Lehigh and Carl streets, about 100 yards from the Medina family’s apartment in Pacoima’s San Fernando Gardens public-housing complex, apparently while she was walking with the suspect, authorities said.

Authorities are conducting ballistics tests to see if the bullets came from the same gun.

No murder weapon has been recovered in last weekend’s attack.

On Wednesday, as family members mourned the loss of the petite schoolgirl from Leon, Mexico, authorities continued to look for clues to why she was slain.

They said they were convinced that the youth is Blanca’s killer. The question, they say, is why.

Lt. William Sieber of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide unit said many witnesses have come forward to say the boy, a student at San Fernando High School, had been terrorizing Blanca during the several months of their relationship.

But he said that authorities still have no motive, except that the youth was extremely possessive of his girlfriend and jealous, even though it appears she had been dating no one else.

“It was not your classic two sweethearts in a high school relationship,” Sieber said. “We believe his proclivity to violence in this matter wasn’t a momentary thing. He had exercised a jealousy, a possessive control during the entire time they were dating. . . . She was afraid of the suspect.

“There is a real possibility he was her assailant in January,” Sieber added. “We have no proof of that, but we are looking into it.”

Blanca, the eldest of seven children, was an academically above-average ninth-grader at Byrd Middle School.

Authorities said she was not involved with gangs and they believe the alleged gunman was not an active gang member either.

An arraignment hearing has been set for today in Sylmar Juvenile Court.

According to authorities, the youth has denied shooting the girl.

But Sieber said inconsistencies have been found in his alibis and officials have physical evidence to tie him to the shooting as well as “substantiated” statements from witnesses and informants.

When Blanca didn’t come home from school last Thursday, her parents told police she was missing.

But Sieber said witnesses reported seeing her with the boyfriend on Friday, about 18 hours after she was reported missing.

Authorities said that if the youth did indeed shoot Blanca in January, he could face additional charges, including attempted murder.

The girl never talked about the January shooting nor said anything about the boyfriend that would indicate he was threatening her, according to her uncle, Salvador Almaguel.

“We cannot say he is the one or not,” said Almaguel, who was staying with the grieving parents. “We have no proof, and not even the police have proof of that.”