2 Teenagers Held in Racial Attack

With a population of about 50,000, this Orange County city rarely makes big headlines. But an apparent hate crime this week--the third since August--has some residents concerned that Cypress could mistakenly become known as a bastion of white supremacy.

“I can say very strongly that I don’t think a bunch of skinheads have moved into town,” said Tim Keenan, a member of the City Council and mayor pro tem. “I would hate for Cypress to get a label as a place where this happens.”

In the latest incident, two teenagers were arrested after an attack Wednesday night on a Latino teenager and his white friend outside a pizza parlor. The teenagers yelled racial slurs at the victims from a car, then attacked them, police said. The suspects were in custody Friday on $100,000 bail.

One suspect, John Comley, 19, of Buena Park, is known to be a member of an Orange County white supremacist gang, police said. The second, Trevor Carlson, 18, of Cypress, has not been linked to the group.

In the first of two previous incidents, gang members with shaved heads and swastika tattoos hammered a Latino man in the head with a beer bottle and stabbed two of his friends outside a pool hall in August. The second incident was at Cypress College, where stickers with white supremacy slogans were placed on fliers for a Latino student group.