Slain Teen Avoided Gang Life, Family Says

NORTH HILLS —  Seventeen-year-old Giovanni Avelar fought hard to stay out of the gang life, said friends and relatives of the teen who was shot to death Wednesday afternoon.

Many of those friends, in fact, believe the fight to stay out of gangs finally cost him his life.

“He would always say no to them,” his brother Bienvenido, 18, said. “He changed his style of dressing so he wouldn’t look like a gang member. He used to dress baggy, but no more.”

Giovanni Avelar was killed while walking home from Monroe High School along Langdon Avenue, about half a mile from his home.

Neighborhood residents and witnesses said Giovanni had been approached by two known gang members, who demanded to know where he was from. Giovanni replied, “Nowhere,” witnesses said, and then was jumped by the pair.

A fistfight ensued and, according to witnesses, Giovanni was holding his own when one of his attackers shot him several times in the chest with a .22-caliber weapon. Police said Thursday they believe the weapon was a rifle.

After the shooting, friends of the victim rushed to tell his family, who then ran to the scene and found him lying in his own blood next to the chain-link fence surrounding Our Lady of Peace Church.

Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division said they are still searching for motives and suspects in the case.

On Thursday, extra officers were deployed to canvass the neighborhood for potential witnesses.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Mike Oppelt at (818) 756-8291.

The front door of the Avelars’ apartment stood open Thursday, and a steady stream of mourners came to hug and console Giovanni’s relatives.

Postal carrier John Stark stopped to offer condolences after he heard about the killing.

“He meant well,” Stark said. “He was trying. He had a future. It’s just too bad it was taken away from him.”

The family’s cocker spaniel, Grena, paced the blue-carpeted living room where family photos were prominently displayed and the keyboard Giovanni and Bienvenido used to play for fun stood silently along the papered wall.

Giovanni’s brothers also attend Monroe High in North Hills. Bienvenido Avelar is a senior and Saul Ponce, 14, is a freshman. The slain youth also had a 5-year-old sister and a 22-year-old brother who is serving with the U.S. Army in Korea.

‘He’s Not a Gangbanger’

To help support his family, Avelar had worked part-time on weekends for a Los Angeles Times delivery agent, stuffing advertising inserts into newspapers. About a week ago, he got another part-time job working at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

“He’s not a gangbanger,” Saul said sadly. “He’s nice to everybody, he says hi to everybody. I just didn’t think it would go like this.”

Saul moved restlessly from the apartment to the jasmine-scented courtyard.

“We were close,” Saul said. “Sometimes we’d go to the movies together, to the mall, to the park. I really love him.”

After learning of the shooting, Bienvenido ran to the scene, where he bloodied his hands climbing the church fences and ducked under the forbidding yellow tape to get past police who tried to prevent his approach.

“I thought maybe someone else was wearing the same clothes and was going to die,” he said softly. “The hardest part was to tell my mother.”

He last saw his brother when they greeted each other during a nutrition break at school that morning.

“He said, ‘See you later,’ and that was the last thing he ever said to me,” Bienvenido said.

Staff and students at Monroe High were also grieving for the slain 11th-grader.

“He was well-respected and well-liked,” said counselor Kathryn Hack. “He was a good, solid student. He really worked hard to overcome any area of difficulty.”

Part of the ‘Monroe Family’

Principal Joan Elam learned of Giovanni’s death by phone at her Studio City home.

“Everybody has been very distressed,” she said. “We call it the Monroe family, and he was part of the family.”

Students are collecting money to help the Avelar family. Giovanni will be buried next to his father in El Salvador.

“That,” said Bienvenido, “was his wish.”