Youth No Protection From Bloodshed in 2000

Two teenage boys found dead on a La Crescenta elementary school playground.

A West Hills teen shot execution-style, allegedly on the orders of a young man owed a drug debt by the victim’s brother.

A 13-year-old girl slain by her father, who also shot his wife to death and wounded two other daughters.

Violence between Latino and Armenian-American students at a Glendale high school that resulted in the death of a student.

In 2000, teenagers were the victims in many of the region’s most shocking slayings. At the same time, homicides rose nearly 20% in the San Fernando Valley over 1999, although the overall level of violent crime was almost unchanged.

Seven hours into 2000, a Panorama City woman became the first homicide victim of the year in Los Angeles when she was shot dead in what police called a dispute with her brother-in-law.

Silvia Escobar was the first of more than 75 people slain in the Valley. They would die by gun, by knife, by hand, by car. Some would be taken to remote canyons and killed, others gunned down under sunny skies on crowded streets. Victims would be toddlers and seniors, gang members and restaurant owners, innocent shoppers and jealous lovers.

According to the latest Los Angeles Police Department statistics, 75 homicides were recorded through Dec. 7 in the Valley’s five police divisions--a 19% increase over 1999, when 62 were recorded.

By comparison, the LAPD’s South Bureau--which includes Watts and South Central Los Angeles and has roughly half the population of the Valley Bureau’s 1.2 million residents--reported 215 killings.

The Valley Bureau recorded 11,299 violent crimes--including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault--compared with 10,965 in 1999. Crime statistics for communities patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have not yet been complied, deputies said.

Despite the increase in killings, authorities said they could claim a measure of success by keeping near the relatively low murder rates of the last two years.

“I think you have to look at last year [1999] as being a phenomenal year and just staying close to that is a moral victory,” said Capt. Kenneth Garner of the LAPD’s Foothill Division, which reported 23 homicides, compared with 20 in 1999. “Violent crime and property crime is what we will continue to go after in 2001.”

One of the Valley’s top cops said part of increase could be attributed to growth in crimes committed against family members.

“A lot of the crimes are in the area of domestic violence and that’s something society has to deal with,” said Cmdr. Val Paniccia, assistant commanding officer of operations in the LAPD’s Valley Bureau. “That is a problem almost beyond the grasp of law enforcement.”

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The run of headline-grabbing cases involving slain teenage boys began on an afternoon in early May when 17-year-old Raul Aguirre was fatally stabbed during an outbreak of fighting between Latino and Armenian-American youths outside Glendale’s Hoover High School.

Police said he had been acting as a peacemaker.

Three Armenian-American juveniles, one a 14-year-old girl, have been charged with killing Aguirre.

The slaying prompted several community meetings in Glendale aimed at easing tensions between the two ethnic groups.

Less than three weeks later, 19-year-old Christopher O’Leary was fatally beaten at a party in Littlerock, allegedly by three football players from Littlerock High.

On the evening of July 23, the bodies of Christopher McCulloch, 13, and Blaine Talmo Jr., 14, were discovered at Valley View Elementary School in La Crescenta. The boys had been beaten to death.

The discovery sent shock waves through the quiet, secluded neighborhood nestled in the foothills near the Angeles National Forest--a supposed refuge from the evils of the city.

“This is really scary,” said Jodi Fitzgibbons, a Valley View teacher who lives near the school. “Crime isn’t supposed to come up here.”

A 15-year-old boy was charged with the slayings. The investigation is continuing, said Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young.

In August, Nicholas Markowitz, 15, of West Hills was kidnapped and killed, allegedly by cohorts of a 20-year-old who police said was outraged that Nicholas’ older half-brother owed him money for marijuana.

Jesse James Hollywood and three friends allegedly kidnapped Nicholas near his West Hills home and drove him to Santa Barbara, where authorities said he was held captive in hopes of getting Benjamin Markowitz, 22, to pay a $36,000 marijuana debt.

Authorities say Nicholas was later taken to a remote campsite, bound and gagged, then shot nine times with a semiautomatic pistol by 21-year-old Ryan James Hoyt, allegedly on Hollywood’s orders.

Hoyt, of West Hills, William R. Skidmore, 20, of Simi Valley, Jesse Taylor Rugge, 20, of Santa Barbara, and Graham Pressley, 17, of Goleta, have each been charged with one felony count of kidnapping and murder. They could face the death penalty.

Hollywood is still on the run.

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Of course, not all murder victims were teenagers.

In August, Sunday afternoon shoppers at a Costco in Van Nuys were horrified when they saw two bandits armed with assault rifles exchange gunfire with an armored truck guard. Witnesses said the robbers fired indiscriminately into the panicked crowd.

When the shooting stopped, 29-year-old bystander Owen Alexander Wolf of Studio City, a television production assistant, lay dead with a gunshot wound to the head. Another bystander was wounded in the hip. The guard was not hurt.

Police arrested Ramon Gutierrez, 38, and charged him with murder, attempted murder and armed robbery. Two alleged accomplices remain at large.

In November, patrons of Sabatino’s Italian Bakery and Restaurant were devastated to learn that the elderly owners of the popular North Hollywood eatery had been stabbed and beaten to death in their home.

A 22-year-old Sylmar man, Israel Cabrera, was arrested on suspicion he killed Sabato and Eugenie Russo, both 73, in what authorities believed to be a robbery.

In at least two instances, a vehicle served as a lethal weapon.

Michael Cravens, 44, a documentary filmmaker from Canoga Park, was run down April 29 by a black Chevrolet Suburban on the shoulder of the Hollywood Freeway. Irate that youths inside had thrown eggs at his Jeep, Cravens cut off the sport utility vehicle and forced it to stop on the side of the freeway. When he got out, he was run down and the Suburban sped away.

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Police have issued a felony warrant for suspect Shahen Keshishian, 29, of Glendale, but have not been able to locate him.

Early on Sept. 1, Jesus Plascencia, a 66-year-old restaurant worker, was run over twice and killed--his body dragged down the street--by a white female motorist who then parked her car, walked into a Van Nuys bagel shop and placed an order.

Suspect Marie E. West was charged with a capital hate crime after she allegedly made anti-Latino remarks shortly after Plascencia was killed.

In November, a judge suspended the criminal case against West by declaring her mentally incompetent to stand trial. Prosecutors vowed to continue to press the case against West when her sanity is restored. West’s husband said his wife suffers from a manic-depressive disorder and does not hate Latinos.

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Just a few days before Christmas, police said Gabriel Ghazelian, distraught over being separated from his wife and children, lured them to a desolate area near Griffith Park, then fatally shot his wife, Zabel, and 13-year-old daughter, Garine, and wounded his daughters Kristine, 16, and Talar, 14. The next day his body was found in the Los Angeles River, where he apparently had leaped to his death.

Talar was listed Friday in fair condition and Kristine was in serious condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman said they were moved out of intensive care and now share a hospital room, where they are giving each other support.

FO (3 photos) Claudia Lopez and Maria Barrera, 15, share their grief at funeral of Raul Aguirre, 17, below, who was fatally stabbed outside Glendale’s Hoover High. The site of the stabbing became a makeshift shrine.