Charges Weighed in Island Stabbings

Los Angeles County prosecutors had not yet decided Friday whether to file charges after a campground brawl on Santa Catalina Island left three teenage boys hospitalized with stab wounds.

Lt. Patrick Hunter of the Avalon sheriff’s station said the fight broke out late Sunday among campers at neighboring sites in a remote area.

Two Orange County men at one campsite and a group of about 10 youths at a second campsite accused one another of starting the brief clash in the Little Harbor area. Driftwood, broken bottles and a pocket knife were used as weapons, deputies said.

Shortly after the fight, deputies arrested the Orange County residents, Kali Fifita, 20, and Shane Pursch, 18, on suspicion of attempted murder. Their Long Beach attorney, Gregg S. Laughlin, said the men were set free because the district attorney had not yet filed any charges.

Laughlin said that his clients did not instigate the conflict and that neither of them had ever been in trouble with the law.

“They were sitting around the campsite, doing absolutely nothing,” he said. “They had to run for their lives.”

Fifita pulled out the pocket knife because he had a right to defend himself, Laughlin said.

The identities of the wounded teenagers were not released.

Hunter said deputies were attempting to pinpoint the cause of the melee. Investigators said they found evidence of alcohol consumption at both campsites.

The three wounded boys, all Catalina Island residents, were airlifted to mainland hospitals with stab wounds in their upper torsos. All three were expected to recover, authorities said.