2 Youths May Be Charged in Gang-Related Shooting at Van Nuys Prep School

Los Angeles police will seek criminal charges today against two alleged gang members, including an 18-year-old college-preparatory school student from Beverly Hills, as accomplices in the shooting of a rival outside the school in Van Nuys.

Christopher Yeung and a 17-year-old Culver City boy were arrested after witnesses to the Tuesday-afternoon shooting, which left a North Hollywood man seriously injured, pointed them out for police while they stood among a crowd of onlookers and news reporters gathered outside Montclair School after the shooting.

Police said the two suspects apparently were left behind when two associates, including the gunmen, panicked and sped away in a car after the attack in front of the school on Lanark Street near Sepulveda Boulevard. The two then attempted to blend in with the crowd and even granted interviews to reporters before they were pointed out to police.

“They got stranded,” Detective Steve Fisk said. “Their two friends were a little flighty. They took off without them.”

The suspects who fled were still being sought Wednesday. The shooting victim, Dale Jung, 20, who was hit by four bullets, remained hospitalized in stable condition.

School officials increased security Wednesday, held an assembly with the school’s 450 students to discuss the incident and offered counseling to the 25 or so who witnessed the event.

“This is a school administrator’s nightmare,” Principal Vernon E. Simpson said. “This is happening all over the city, but it really brings it home when it happens outside your own door. I never thought I’d see this happening at the prep schools.”

Fisk said the incident was spawned by confrontations that Yeung had with a rival gang member at the school. Fisk said Yeung and the unnamed student had “nose to nose” confrontations last week and again on Tuesday. Each student then apparently called associate gang members to the school to back them up.

The shooting occurred 10 minutes after classes were dismissed for the day. A car containing three of Yeung’s alleged associates stopped in front of Jung. The 17-year-old suspect got out of the car and was talking to Jung when the passenger remaining in the car opened fire.

“What happened was one guy’s backup shot the other guy’s backup,” Fisk said.

Fisk said police will ask prosecutors to charge the two suspects with attempted murder for their roles in the shooting.

Simpson said the shooting was particularly shocking because earlier Tuesday he had told both Yeung and the other youth that fighting would not be tolerated. He said the students agreed to put aside their differences. Simpson said he was unaware that they allegedly were members of rival gangs.

Both students have been expelled, Simpson said. Yeung had been at the school only during this year and Simpson did not know about his background. Police also had few details about the teen-ager, and his parents could not be reached for comment.

Fisk said the gang that Yeung allegedly associated with is primarily Chinese- and Korean-American and not rooted in a particular geographic area. He said police gang experts believe that members can be found throughout the area between Beverly Hills and Granada Hills.

Before being taken into custody Tuesday, Yeung told a Times reporter that he had heard but not seen the shooting as he was leaving school. He also said he did not panic when he heard the gunfire.

“It’s pretty normal for this neighborhood,” he said.