Mall to Welcome Ghosts and Goblins

Haunted by the anniversary of the 1993 shooting deaths of three Pasadena trick-or-treaters, business owners in Plaza Pasadena have prepared their stores for tonight’s Halloween celebration.

Plaza Pasadena’s indoor trick-or-treat event is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. to hopefully “efface haunting memories on the anniversary of the . . . shootings,” said Rosa Ordaz, a public relations representative for the mall.

As a Los Angeles jury reached its verdicts in the penalty phase for three of the Halloween murder gunmen Wednesday, plaza shops set up candy and decorations for what Ordaz hopes will be the last large-scale event of its kind.

“We’re hoping that the need [for the mall’s Halloween celebration] is dimming. Hopefully, the penalties will put an end to it,” she said. “We just want Halloween to be a happy celebration. People will still come to the mall, but just because it is fun.”

The mall party became a central event a year after Edgar Evans, 13, and Stephen Coats and Reggie Crawford, both 14, were gunned down on their way home from a Halloween party.

“Our city is generally safe, but many people felt uneasy about having their kids venture out into the streets” after the incident, Ordaz said.

The mall, located on Colorado Boulevard between Marengo and Los Robles avenues, plans to give away $2,500 worth of candy and, thinking preemptively, 200 toothbrushes.