Drive-By Shooting Victim’s Suit Names School District

An El Toro High School student who was wounded in a drive-by shooting filed a $5-million lawsuit Thursday against his alleged attackers and the Saddleback Valley School District, claiming school officials knew of an impending attack but didn’t try to stop it.

The lawsuit, filed by Philip Lott of Lake Forest, alleges that “concerned students” had reported to the school’s dean of students, Ed Adams, and football coach Dominic Vittori that Lott “would soon be shot.” But officials failed to warn Lott, his parents or the police about the report, the lawsuit states.

Lott’s parents and school district officials on Thursday night declined to comment on the allegations.

But Dore Gilbert, a school board member, said, “I find it hard to believe that any administrator would ignore the fact that someone was going to be shot.”

The lawsuit, which seeks $5 million in punitive damages, is the latest development in a shooting that stunned residents of Lake Forest. It also spurred Lott’s mother, Karen Lott, to organize a group called Action Coalition on Teen Terrorism, intended to tackle gangs and teen violence in Orange County.

Lott required two surgeries after he was shot four times in his legs and stomach as he walked home from school last Nov. 4. In a recent interview, Lott said he continues to suffer from nerve damage to his left leg, an injury that he said would prevent him from accomplishing his dream of joining the Marine Corps after graduation.

Four teen-agers have been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting.

William Taboy, once one of Lott’s closest friends, faces charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder. The alleged gunman, Li-Chieh Yu, 18, of Hacienda Heights, faces the same charge.

The two other teen-agers charged with the shooting have not been named because they are juveniles. But in his lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, Lott alleges that they all were in the car from which the gunshots were fired.

Two of those teen-agers have already been sentenced to the California Youth Authority after being found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors have alleged that the shooting was arranged by Taboy after he and Lott got into a shoving match last Halloween. Lott reportedly insulted Taboy in front of several of their friends during a confrontation in the middle of the street.

This came after the two had a bitter falling-out six months earlier over a necklace that Lott accused Taboy of stealing from his house. The incident ended a friendship that began when the two were in junior high.

Court records state that Taboy met with the Hacienda Heights teen-agers and conspired to shoot Lott as he walked home from school that day. In exchange for the shooting, which Taboy would not participate in, the three would receive compact discs from him, prosecutors allege.

The group discussed the plan over lunch at a local fast-food restaurant, and Taboy described for the group what Lott was wearing that day and pointed out his regular route home, according to the court records.

As Lott walked down the 2500 block of Romera Place that day, a black Ford was driven by and its occupants sprayed bullets from a 9-millimeter handgun.

Attorneys for Taboy and Yu do not deny their clients were involved in Lott’s shooting, but they contend that neither youth meant to kill him.

The civil lawsuit alleges that after the shoving match between Taboy and Lott, Taboy warned Lott to “watch his back.”

“Back at the school the following week, rumors quickly spread that Lott would soon be shot,” the lawsuit states, adding that “concerned students relayed this information to Ed Adams and Dominic Vittori. . . .”