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Boy Shot, Man Stabbed in Dispute at Weekend Party : Violence: Police from five departments responded to the scene in Placentia to confront a hostile crowd.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest and a 22-year-old man was stabbed in the head at a weekend party that ended in a faceoff between 100 revelers and about 30 officers from five police departments, police said Monday.

Placentia officers responding to calls of shots fired in the 1600 block of Sierra Vista Avenue about 11:30 p.m. Saturday found Raymond Whitacre, 15, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. Richard Andrade, 22, was nearby with a cut on the head, police said.

The victims, both of Fullerton, were treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange. Police said that neither victim’s injuries were considered life-threatening.

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Police said it appears that two party-goers may have been from rival gangs, but the party was peaceful for hours before a dispute erupted.

By the time police arrived, about 100 agitated party-goers were congregating in the street, yelling at officers and refusing to cooperate when asked to move away, Placentia police spokesman Matt Reynolds said.

Placentia officers called in reinforcements from the Anaheim, Brea and Fullerton police departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The Anaheim Police Department also sent its helicopter.

“The crowd was very verbal, very abusive toward the officers and very non-cooperative,” Reynolds said.

“When we said, ‘Go over to the other side of the street,’ no one wanted to move. It wasn’t a riot, but if you arrest the guy who is not cooperating, sometimes it’ll turn into a riot. It’s easier to move everybody along, and you can do that with a big law enforcement presence.”

Reynolds said the first officers on the scene were able to get into the area and alert paramedics, “but they detected a very hostile crowd.”

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They called for reinforcements to ensure that paramedics could tend to the victims and that the crime scene was not disturbed, he said.

Most witnesses were not cooperating, Reynolds said. The 15-year-old also did not cooperate with investigators after the shooting, and police were hoping to talk with Andrade when he recovers somewhat from his wound.

Investigators said an argument apparently broke out, but it was unclear who was involved.

“We’re still not sure what they were arguing about,” Reynolds said. “We aren’t having many people there coming forward to tell us what happened.”

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