Attack on Youth Galvanizes Effort to Stem Tide of Crime : Violence: Gruesome assault shocks once-tranquil south Orange County. Some say a last safe haven is in danger.

Avenida Lobeiro is a picture of suburban tranquillity, lined with well-groomed homes of the city’s affluent. The vista of the Pacific is commanding here. So is the view of nearby Calafia Beach County Park, where teen-ager Steve Woods had a metal rod rammed through his head during a violent clash last weekend.

From this comfortable vantage point, the neighbors have watched crime--particularly violent crime--march inexorably into their quiet coastal haven. Especially unnerving, they say, was the attack on Woods.

“I’m furious,” said Tammy Arnoni, 30, who lives just off Avenida Lobeiro with her husband, Javier. “I want to make sure I follow this case against the suspects through the court system. I want to make sure those guys get justice.”

Woods, who remains in a coma, is a victim of one of the bloodiest weekends in Orange County history and a symbol of tragic proportions for south Orange County residents who fear that violent, urban-style crime, like that found in Los Angeles, will slowly erode their quality of life unless something is done now.

The urgency in their voices seems more pronounced compared to that of north and central Orange County residents, who are more resigned to the fact that increasing violence often goes hand in hand with urbanization.

“There has got to be a priority placed on law enforcement here in south Orange County or we are going to fall victim to crime just like central and north Orange County,” said Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr.

The catalyst for all this concern was a two-day series of shootings, assaults and robberies--many of them gang-related--that left six people dead and eight wounded from Anaheim to San Clemente. Law enforcement officials have called the weekend of violence one of the worst, if not the worst, in county history.

Woods, 17, was gravely injured Friday night when a group of young men and teen-agers stood at the exit of Calafia Beach Park and pelted four carloads of students with rocks and bottles as the youths attempted to drive away. The attack in the parking lot may have been sparked by an incident the day before when, according to police reports, one of the suspects recognized one of Woods’ companions as the person who made an obscene gesture at him the day before. Amid the confusion and shattering of car windows, someone plunged a metal rod from a paint roller through the skull of Woods, a popular San Clemente High School senior who had gone to Calafia to relax with his friends after a football game.

He remains in a coma at Children’s Hospital in Mission Viejo. Surgeons were able to remove the rod but Woods is not expected to recover.

Nine young men, some of whom told sheriff’s deputies they were members of the San Clemente Varrio Chico gang, were arrested. Two adults have been charged so far with felony assault. Two have been released for lack of evidence, and felony assault charges have been filed against four of the five juveniles arrested.

Prosecutors emphasized that there is no evidence that the incident was premeditated, gang-related or racially motivated.

News of the attack stunned south Orange County, where the crime rate is among the lowest in the region, though it has been steadily rising over the years in conjunction with population growth. Nowhere was the outcry more pronounced than in San Clemente, a peaceful beach town of more than 41,000 known for its Spanish architecture and the last stop before the vast expanse of the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

“After I heard about it, it just turned my stomach,” said Jim Miranda, 43, a real estate salesman in San Clemente, who became an anti-gang activist after a drive-by shooting in the city several years ago.

Miranda created a group of community leaders that included Latino professionals to support youth soccer programs and to serve as positive role models for Latino youths. Last weekend’s violence, he said, “just destroyed all I’ve been doing for the past five years.”

Across the community, public reaction has been similar. Anxious parents have deluged the Sheriff’s Department and San Clemente High School with questions about gangs, violent crime and what has become of their community.

At the civic center this week, about 40 teachers, principals, city officials and parents met to discuss what to do about a rising tide of crime and gang violence. Gang hot lines and better counseling for students were topics of conversation.

After receiving more than 30 calls from citizens, the San Clemente City Council set aside some time at its regular meeting Wednesday to discuss gangs, crime problems and possible solutions.

“I knew it was eventually going to happen here,” said Richard L. Niggemann, 35, a salesman who has steadily moved his family farther away from south Los Angeles County, where he grew up. “I was looking for a small community just like San Clemente where it’s nice, peaceful and quiet. Now, I’m starting to see gang activity and all the wildness.”

Typical is the lament of handyman Ed Chapman, 59, who said he hears the police helicopter flying overhead a lot more than he used to. He lives in a condominium near the San Clemente pier, one of the city’s main attractions.

“As for the gangs, when I drive in town and they’re walking in the middle of the street behind Albertson’s Market, they don’t get out of your way. They just defy you,” Chapman said.

In neighboring San Juan Capistrano, concern about crime echoed that of San Clemente residents. The historic mission town has a gang problem of its own in the form of the San Juan Boys, the rival of Varrio Chico.

“It’s sickening. Frightening. Disgusting. Pathetic. All of those rolled into one. When you see a bright, popular healthy young man rendered a vegetable it makes you sick,” said Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer. “I have to admit that we’re seeing more violence, a lot of it gang-related, in the south county.”

Many people in San Juan Capistrano were shocked by the Woods assault, city officials said, and they worry that something very similar could befall their city, which borders San Clemente on the north.

“I was really surprised the way this happened,” said Gil Jones, the mayor of San Juan Capistrano and a member of a community task force that addresses gang violence. “Why it would be so spontaneous. If it could happen there, it could happen here.”

In an attempt to ensure that an attack like that on Woods is not repeated, city officials and citizens in San Clemente are calling for a variety of possible solutions, from strong enforcement measures to social and sports programs designed to keep children off the streets.

They stressed that the approach should be sensitive to San Clemente’s ethnic groups. Of the population, about 34,500 are white, and 5,180 are Latino. The rest are Asian, American Indian and African-American.

Miranda, the community activist, believes that a sheriff’s anti-gang task force should be formed to sweep San Clemente.

“They should get the 30 or 40 serious gang members off the streets and send them to correctional facilities,” Miranda said. “I want to make a point here, and that is this incident is not indicative of San Clemente’s Hispanic population.”

Some say the crime against Woods may be an isolated event, but Councilman Tom Lorch said the city’s gang problem is anything but random. He is asking for a review of the city’s gang prevention program.

“You have a gang, you have problems,” Lorch said. “We’ve known that for years. . . . We need to get down and focus again and take a look at this problem. Something like this could happen at any time. And we don’t want it to happen again.”

Even before tragedy struck, San Clemente city leaders had been working in cooperation with schools and neighboring cities of Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano to expand programs aimed at keeping youth away from gangs, alcohol and drugs.

Just last week, the San Clemente youth advisory committee and parks and recreation commission endorsed a comprehensive after-school program that will target children ages 7 to 14 who are at risk of joining gangs or getting caught up with drugs and alcohol.

Lupe Marino, 47, who lost a bid for trustee in the Saddleback Community College District, said the city should definitely have a youth task force. “We have to build commonality instead of differences,” she said. “We need to break down the barriers of ‘them and us.’ ”

Over the summer, the city sponsored a series of talks about community problems at a variety of residents’ homes. Marino said she was disappointed in the program because it failed to include Spanish-speaking parents and families.

“I would like to see that happen now, especially with Spanish-speaking families being included,” she said.

But if nothing substantial is done in the years ahead, there might not be anywhere else to go for those who have tried to avoid the problems associated with urban life. After San Clemente, the next city south is Oceanside, but they are separated by 25 miles of Marine base. “I just love it here,” said Chris DeCosin, 35, who moved to San Clemente from Hawaii five years ago. “It’s a great little town. But this is as far south as you can go in the county. The gangs can’t go any farther.”

Times staff writer Anna Cekola and correspondent Willson Cummer contributed to this report.