Shooting Death in Strip Mall Near High School Termed Gang-Related

Police said Friday that a confrontation that killed a 20-year-old man and left a 15-year-old in critical condition Thursday near a high school football game was likely gang-related and had “nothing to do with the high school.”

The fight broke out about 7 p.m. in a strip mall in the 100 block of North Bradford Avenue, as a football game was in progress at nearby Valencia High School, police said.

Several men drove up to the 15-year-old and stabbed him. As the fight moved into the street, the teen’s friends emerged from a store and someone fired shots at one of the attackers, killing him, police said.

Placentia police spokeswoman Corrine Loomis said Friday that investigators were not releasing the names of the victims. However, she sought to assure parents that the incident did not begin on campus.

“It appears that it was gang-related,” she said. “Valencia High School is darned near adjacent, but it has nothing to do with the school. It had nothing to do with the game. It just happened to occur right near the school.”