Gang Link to Slayings Investigated

Sheriff’s deputies say they still don’t know whether the drive-by killings Monday of two 18-year-olds were gang-related, but the circumstances in the case indicate gang involvement.

The two men were shot to death when they stopped their gray Cadillac at a traffic light, sheriff’s officials said.

Kenneth Thompson of Altadena and Demon Stephenson of Pasadena were shot by at least one of three occupants of a two-toned green Cadillac that pulled alongside them about 3 p.m. at Lake Avenue and New York Drive, Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Peavy said.

Stephenson, the passenger, apparently recognized someone or something and jumped out of the car he was riding in, sheriff’s deputies said. He was hit once in the torso and collapsed on the sidewalk.

Thompson, the driver, was hit in the back of the head and in the upper torso, deputies said. He managed to drive the car 150 feet north on Lake before he collapsed and slumped over. Stephenson was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where he was pronounced dead at 3:52 p.m.; Thompson was taken to St. Lukes Medical Center in Pasadena, where he was pronounced dead at 4:12 p.m. The suspects were last seen headed east on New York Drive, authorities said.

Victor Hart, owner of the 98 Cents Store in a Lake Avenue mini-mall, said he was talking with a customer when he heard about four shots. “I thought the children were playing,” he said.

Glenn Ford, who was in the area at the time of the shooting, said he heard the sound of rapid shots and saw Stephenson jump out of the car. Thompson was still driving through the intersection, Ford said, but the car slowed as the drive began to lose consciousness.