16-Year-Old Killed as He Visits Friend

A 16-year-old Perris boy was fatally stabbed outside a friend’s home in Fullerton on Tuesday by two males--possibly skinheads--who called him over to a street corner and assaulted him, police and friends said.

Troy Gorena was stabbed about 8 p.m. outside a home in the 500 block of Baker Avenue as he waited for a friend so the pair could go to a store.

“He collapsed in my arms and I had to carry him inside the house,” said a 14-year-old friend Gorena had been visiting at the time. “He lifted up his shirt and he said he’d been stabbed.”

No one inside the house heard a confrontation, and the girl said Gorena told her only that he was standing in the driveway when two white male teens with shaved heads called him over to the corner and then assaulted him when he approached.

The girl’s family said they believe the attack was racially motivated because Gorena is part Latino and the neighborhood has become a popular hangout in recent months for white youths with shaved heads and cause trouble.

“They always go around the intersection screaming and breaking bottles,” she said. “They’re just a bunch of punks. But Troy’s not the kind to start fights.”

Police said they are investigating all possible angles, but have no evidence yet that points to a hate crime.

“No one saw the stabbing. No one heard an argument,” Fullerton Sgt. Greg Mayes said.

The girl, whose family asked that her name not be used because they fear retaliation, had stepped inside the house for a minute to get $2 from her mother so the pair could go to the store.

Mayes said one witness reported seeing the two men at the corner with Gorena and then seeing them flee.

Gorena stumbled at the corner and fell down in an elementary school crosswalk, where blood stains remained Wednesday as children walked home from school. He was staggering toward the house when his friend walked outside and saw that he was hurt.

Troy Gorena

“He was one of my best friends,” she said. “It’s still hard to believe that he’s gone forever. I already miss him.”

The girl said Gorena loved Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, oldies music and drinking beer with friends. He was wearing his Emmitt Smith football jersey when he was stabbed, and asked his friend to hold onto it until he got back from the hospital. The jersey, washed clean of Gorena’s blood Wednesday, showed four stab holes in the back.

The teen was conscious, propped up on the couch and talking when police and paramedics arrived at the home. He was taken to UCI Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and died at 9:35 p.m, Fullerton Sgt. Glenn Deveny said. The girl’s father said authorities told him Gorena had been stabbed in the liver and lung.

Gorena grew up in Fullerton and finished eighth-grade there before entering continuation school. When his father died 10 months ago, his mother moved the family to Perris, but Gorena’s friend said he often returned to his old neighborhood.

“He loved Fullerton,” she said. “He never wanted to leave.”

Gorena’s 21-year-old stepbrother had brought the teen to Fullerton for a scheduled court date for a curfew violation, the girl said. He was staying with friends nearby and walked over to the girl’s house Tuesday night just moments before the attack.

Gorena’s grandmother said the family is devastated by its second loss in as many years. “His mother is doing awful. She won’t accept it,” said the grandmother, who lives in Placentia.

“He was a very lovable kid,” she said. “Every time I would talk to him on the phone, he was so loving. He called us all the time.”