2 More Boys Arrested in Shooting Near Campus in Thousand Oaks

Ventura County sheriff’s detectives arrested two more teen-agers Wednesday--including one on suspicion of attempted murder--for participating in a brawl near Westlake High School that led to the shooting of three students.

Wednesday’s arrest of the two boys--who were apprehended in Rowland Heights in Los Angeles County--brought to four the number of teen-agers in custody over the melee, which has shocked the Thousand Oaks community.

The latest two suspects were arrested after detectives located a burgundy Toyota in Rowland Heights that had been seen leaving the shooting scene, investigators said. One of them was booked into the Ventura County juvenile hall on suspicion of attempted murder and the other on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

Their arrests follow the brawl last Thursday in which all the suspects jumped out of a car at North Ranch Park and announced, “We’re the Asian Mafia,” before attacking a crowd of students with bats, lumber and gunshots, authorities say.

Meanwhile, the two teen-agers arrested a day after the attack made their first appearances in Juvenile Court on Wednesday.

A defense lawyer for one of those defendants told a judge that his Chinese American client took part in the incident because he had been racially and physically harassed by a Westlake football player for more than a year.

Police accuse the 16-year-old defendant, a Westlake High sophomore, of hitting the football player, junior Curtis Simmons, with a baseball bat or a piece of wood.

But defense attorney Ronald W. Stenlake suggested the defendant only hit Curtis with his hands. He said Curtis broke the defendant’s nose in a fistfight six months ago.

Stenlake also told Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren that this case stems from “some high-school jocks who picked on (the defendant) and his associates because they are Asian.”

Curtis’ father denied the charges Wednesday.

Despite Stenlake’s statements, the judge refused to release the boy and the other 16-year-old defendant from the custody of juvenile authorities.

Stenlake described his client as an above-average student with no previous criminal involvement. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

The other 16-year-old, a Korean American who was described by his attorney as an average student with no history of trouble, has been charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle, assault with a deadly weapon and discharge of a firearm.

Both defendants were granted delays in their respective arraignments Wednesday so the lawyers could have more time to review police reports and other evidence.

In addition on Wednesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. John A. Cardoza filed a petition that asks the court to find the boys fit to be tried as adults. Perren ordered probation reports prepared on both of the juveniles to help him make the determination on whether their cases should be sent to adult court.

The judge cited several reasons for not releasing the two boys into the custody of their parents, including the enormity of the brawl and the fact that the alleged attacked seemed well-organized with some of the aggressors coming from out of the Westlake area.

Last week’s brawl erupted when the Chinese American boy and Curtis were to meet at the park to engage in a fistfight.

“Some of the students interviewed by police describe Mr. (Curtis) Simmons as a bully,” Stenlake said in court.

The defense attorney also said that Curtis is the only witness who told police his client had a bat. “Other evidence is that Mr. Simmons was only hit with (the defendant’s) hands,” Stenlake said. He also said that the defendant comes from a stable home and that his father is a self-employed business investor.

Curtis Simmons’ father, Danny, contacted after the court hearing, acknowledged that Curtis broke the defendant’s nose in a fight. He said it happened 13 months ago, in January, 1993. But he also said it was the defendant who could not let bygones be bygones and who kept coming after his son.

“Did Curtis beat him up? Yeah,” the father said. “Did the kid keep coming back? Yeah.

“It’s a little kid trying to make a name for himself. He thinks all his friends are going to back him up. My son doesn’t want to fight this kid.”

The father also said Curtis made a bad decision to go to North Ranch Park last Thursday.

“Curtis never in his wildest dream thought there would be guns, baseball bats, clubs,” Danny Simmons said. “If Curtis is guilty of anything, it’s stupidity of going up there that day, instead of reporting it.”

In court, Cardoza objected strenuously to the request to free the defendant.

“He is the wellspring from which the dispute emanated,” said Cardoza, who called the incident “a virtual small-scale war.”

In a hearing for the Korean American teen-ager, Perren ordered the boy detained “for his protection and for the protection of others.”

Outside court, the teen-ager’s attorney, Michael F. Yamamoto of Los Angeles, said the boy is depressed and worried about how his arrest is affecting his mother, who the attorney said has high expectations of her son.

“The disappointment is just crushing him,” Yamamoto said of his client.