Taft Student, 16, Shot to Death Outside Mall

A Taft High School student described as a class clown with dreams of attending a prom party Saturday was fatally shot the night before in a confrontation at the Fallbrook Mall with apparent gang members who also wounded his friend.

Ramtin Shaholian and his companion had walked through the mall parking lot from the General Cinema Theaters when two young men approached and asked if they belonged to a gang, police said. After the two 16-year-olds said they did not and began walking back toward the theaters, the suspects climbed into a car, followed them, and opened fire in what police described as the first incident of its kind at the mall.

“We weren’t sure if they were going to shoot us, so we were just walking away,” said the surviving teen-ager. “They drove around [the parking lot] once, and the second time, they shot at us.”

Ramtin, who was struck in his side, died about 4 a.m. Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. His friend was reported in stable condition at a local hospital with bullet wounds to his buttocks and legs.

Investigators asked that the surviving teen-ager not be identified because of concerns about retaliation by his attackers, who remained at large Saturday. They said at least one more teen-ager had been shot at in the Friday night incident, but escaped injury.

“It is evident to us that these are very violent suspects,” Los Angeles Police Detective Bob Howe said. “I have a concern for several people involved.” The gunmen sped off toward Vanowen Street in a late model white Ford Taurus, police said. The car, which had six passengers, was driven by a woman, they added.

Police arrested a 19-year-old man Saturday night in connection with the shooting but refused to release his name or other details, saying other suspects remained at large.

Officer Ken LeDuc said earlier there have been problems in the past at the Fallbrook Mall theater, but this was the first shooting that he could recall.

“This theater features movies that attract young audiences, so you have some loud kids or a few scuffles, but these theaters are pretty safe,” said LeDuc, who is part of an LAPD mall detail. He added that there are rarely any serious problems with gangs at the theater.

Ramtin and his wounded companion, an El Camino Real High School senior, had gone to a 10:30 p.m. showing of “Congo” with four other friends but were escorted from the theater for making too much noise.

They were using a pay phone at a nearby drug store when they were approached about 11 p.m. by two suspects described as about 19 and 20 years old, witnesses told police. The two men were then seen getting into a car, driving to one end of the parking lot and making a U-turn back toward the teen-agers.

One of the suspects fired about seven shots from a small-caliber gun at the students, striking Ramtin and the other 16-year-old, authorities said.

“I ran outside and I saw Ramtin and . . . [they] were both on the ground,” said a 17-year-old friend of the two boys, who was among the group of teen-agers at the theater.

David Foster, manager of the Chuck E Cheese’s restaurant located across from the theater’s back entrance, also heard the shooting and saw the two teen-agers fall to the ground. Foster said he called 911 and grabbed some towels to help them. Neither looked like a gangbanger, he said.

“The kid shot in the side was very incoherent and screaming a lot,” Foster said. “From where he was shot he looked like he had been grazed because he wasn’t losing very much blood,” he said. “But he was just screaming and wriggling around in pain so you could tell it was very bad.”

On Saturday, friends and classmates erected a small shrine of red roses and teddy bears at the site. A red ribbon reading, “We Love You. Rest in Peace,” was threaded among small sympathy cards. About 40 youths crowded around, teary-eyed or silent and dazed, looking at the bullet holes left in the wall and a steel door of the theater’s back entrance.

“He just liked making everybody laugh,” said a friend of Ramtin’s older brother who joined the bevy of young, flower-bearing mourners.

“He wasn’t a gang member or anything like that,” said the 20-year-old friend. “He was just minding his business and this is what happens.”

One of Ramtin’s friends described him as “so carefree--he was the funniest kid, he always made everyone laugh. He was always there for his friends, no matter what.”

Earlier Friday, Ramtin had proudly pointed to a new, black BMW car parked at his family’s West Valley home, saying it was to be his when he got his driver’s license next week, the friend said.

Although as a 10th-grader he was not eligible to attend the school prom, friends said he had been looking forward to a post-prom party for weeks and had even reserved a tuxedo.

Red ribbons of mourning adorned the lapels of many tuxedos Saturday night at a particularly bittersweet prom at the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. “He was like family to me,” said 18-year-old Michael Separzadeh. “I can’t believe this happened on our prom night. I’ve been crying all day.”

He and other friends said they briefly considered canceling their prom plans after hearing about Ramtin’s death, then decided to go to honor the memory of a kindred spirit.

“It’s for him,” said one. “We’re going to party for him.”

Times staff writer Abigail Goldman contributed to this story.