Killings at San Marino Party Blamed on Gangs

The attack that left two teen-agers dead at a million-dollar San Marino home resulted from a dispute that brewed after members of several gangs from throughout Los Angeles showed up at a weekend party, according to police and sheriff’s sources.

Some gang members were ordered to leave the party but returned to spray the back yard and a family room with bullets from semiautomatic weapons, forcing the trapped victims to desperately scramble behind furniture for cover, police said.

Investigators said that uninvited gang members began showing up at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, when the party was winding down. Although the host wanted the party to end, he was intimidated by the late arrivals and the party continued, amid arguments and growing tension.

Eventually, the late arrivals were told to leave. They returned shortly after and were confronted by two youths hired to provide security. The youths fled around the side of the house, yelling, “Run, run, run,” when two Filipino gang members pulled out guns and began chasing them, said sheriff’s homicide Detective Joseph Raffa.

San Marino Police Chief Frank Wills said he was confident that arrests would be made quickly.

“We’re focusing on identifying the suspects right now,” Wills said. “Once we do, the hard part will be over.”

But, he said, police believe that party-goers who know those responsible for the shooting fear retribution if they provide investigators with the names. He said he was confident that the shooters were not from San Marino.

“We know there are some people who attended the party who knew who the intruders were and are not telling us,” Wills said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Dan Burt, however, said it was too early in the investigation to say how quickly it might produce results. “It’s still the bread-and-butter investigation,” he said. “Homicide is making a number of calls we didn’t have a chance to make yesterday.”

Investigators also are looking for three getaway cars used by the eight to 12 gang members who police say were involved in the attack.

One of the cars, a four-door, light-colored 1990 or 1991 Honda Civic DX, was broadsided by one of the party-goers fleeing the scene. Another, a white mid-1980s Mitsubishi, may have been stopped by Alhambra police shortly after the 1 a.m. Sunday shooting. But the vehicle, which carried four young people, was released after officers were told by San Marino police that they were not looking for a Mitsubishi, Alhambra police said.

Meanwhile, Wills and city and school officials conducted a question-and-answer session Monday night for about 200 residents to reassure them that the incident was sparked by outsiders and that the dignified calm that characterizes the wealthy enclave had been shaken but not shattered.

Once the exclusive realm of old money moguls who profited from Southern California’s growth, San Marino has become far more diverse. Asian American immigrants now make up nearly a third of the population of 13,000 and 60% of the students in the highly regarded school district.

“Everybody has a family, a station wagon and a dog, and they give schools and safety a top priority,” said San Marino Mayor Bernard Le Sage. “That is what San Marino is about and it remains that.”

He said “our sympathy and prayers go out to the victims, but we are going to try to work on solutions.”

He called for a hot line to be established to allow students or their parents to anonymously report to police any gang activity, drug sales or weapons on school campuses.

“Kids have to be kids and have parties and have fun,” he said. “It’s a question of what type of party and if there is anything we can do to make them safer.”

One party-goer, who asked not to be identified, said the incident has made San Marino youths decide not to hold any more “flyer parties,” called that because they are announced by flyers sent out and posted throughout the area.

Residents who attended the meeting asked whether the city could adopt a curfew for youths, have police monitor large parties more closely or take other steps to prevent similar shootings. A few said that some San Marino young people are involved in gangs and drugs and that leaders had been too quick to put all the blame for the incident on outsiders.

The poolside party was held at a house on Lombardy Place by San Marino High School senior Frank Chen. It started out quietly even though gang members were among the invited guests, according to one police source. Officers said they had been alerted in advance by the host’s parents that no beer or other alcohol would be provided and that older youths would keep an eye on the festivities.

Brian Tong, 18, and his brother had been hired as disc jockeys to provide entertainment. They, in turn, had hired 18-year-old Dennis Buan, a senior at South Pasadena High School, and his brother, Luigi, to help out, police said. Apparently aware of the possibility of violence, the disc jockeys brought along a hand-held metal detector to find weapons.

The party was nearly over when the shooting began.

As the shooters, possibly one male and one female, ran into the back yard and opened fire, a few party-goers were still in the yard and dashed inside.

“There was a lot of panic inside the house,” Raffa said.

Buan was hit by gunfire and died at a local hospital. David Heng, 15, a ninth-grader at San Marino High School, died near the back door. Oliver Chu, 18, who also was helping with security at the party, was in serious condition Sunday at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, but hospital officials would not provide any information on his condition Monday. Six others, two of them San Marino High graduates, were injured.

One of those hit by gunfire was the older brother of the party host.

Both San Marino and South Pasadena high schools arranged for counselors to be available to talk to grieving students this week.

Times staff writers Richard Lee Colvin and Denise Hamilton contributed to this story.