High School Basketball Player Slain at Party

An 18-year-old high school basketball player was shot and killed Saturday night at a Gardena party after gang members argued with him and he tried to run away, according to Gardena police and the youth’s father.

Antonio D. Lewis, a Washington High School basketball player, was at the party with a friend when gang members crashed in, said his father, Dempsey Lewis. Gang members had demanded to know where the youth was from, said Lewis’ father. When the student answered, he was told, “Today you’re going to regret you came here--you belong on the other side,” Lewis said he was told by a youth who accompanied his son to the party.

When a fight broke out, Antonio Lewis ran off while others fled into the house. He was shot in the back and he died at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to a nursing supervisor.

“(Antonio) was a good kid; he never got into trouble--nothing different from any other teen-ager,” said his father.

“He was a super kid,” said Washington High School basketball coach Andy Davis. “He was one of the nicest kids I’ve ever coached.”

Lewis said he had warned his son about the risks of going to house parties, but “since my son is almost 6-foot-3 and weighed over 200 pounds, he felt he could take care of himself,” Lewis said. “Because he’d pumped a lot of weights, he felt invincible.

“He never thought a bullet would take away his life.”