3 Youths Charged in Campus Shooting

Three teenage boys have each been charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery in a Feb. 6 shooting that led to a five-hour lockdown at Gardena High School.

All three entered pleas equivalent to not guilty in arraignments Wednesday and Thursday in Long Beach Juvenile Court, and were ordered to appear at a March 12 hearing to set proceedings to determine whether they should be tried as adults.

Those charged are two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old, said Det. Patricia Guerra of the Los Angeles Police Department. Their names are being withheld because they are under 18. The case is being handled by the LAPD because Gardena High School is within its jurisdiction.

The victims of the incident, both of whom were shot and wounded but were sent home after hospital treatment, are Carlos Flores, 19, and Stephanie Alonzo, 16, both of Gardena.

The three suspects allegedly approached Flores between classes and demanded money. When he told them he didn’t have any, one of the assailants allegedly produced a gun and shot him in the back, police said.

Alonzo, a bystander, was shot in the hip.

Police locked down classrooms, holding 500 of Gardena High’s 2,300 students until 7 p.m. in an unsuccessful search for the assailants that night. One suspect surrendered the next day, and the two others this week.