Boys, 17, Accused in Slaying of Tarzana Youth Plead Not Guilty

Two 17-year-old boys accused along with four other teens of killing a Tarzana youth outside a birthday party Sunday pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges Friday in Sylmar Juvenile Court, authorities said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is seeking to try all six boys as adults, said spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. The six are due in Juvenile Court again July 14.

Police have said several of the suspects come from upper middle-class homes, attended private schools and are members of a local Armenian gang.

Abtin Tangestanifar, 17, was stabbed to death outside a house in the 17900 block of Medley Drive in Encino. The victim had rebuffed five to eight suspected gang members as they attempted to crash a birthday party earlier in the evening, police said.

Instead of leaving the party, the boys lingered outside, and confronted Tangestanifar and his friends as they left the party, police said. The suspects asked if the others were also gang members, and when Tangestanifar said he did not belong to a gang, they attacked him, police said.