2 Students Shot Near Monroe High School

NORTH HILLS —  A 17-year-old Monroe High School student was shot in the stomach Monday during a street fight with other youths near the campus and was hospitalized in serious condition while police questioned a suspect.

A 15-year-old boy--also a student at Monroe who may have been just watching the fight--suffered a less serious gunshot wound to a shin, said Capt. Joseph Curreri, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire station.

Monday’s incident was one of three shootings--one fatal--in just under a year near Monroe High involving the school’s students.

Soon after the shooting, police brought to the station for questioning a youth they apprehended in the neighborhood near the school, said Lt. Anthony Alba, an LAPD spokesman.

Arrested on suspicion of attempted murder was Alex Elias, 18, of North Hills, police said. “He was [identified] as having been involved,” Alba said of the youth. It was not clear if he was suspected of being the actual gunman or one of up to 10 assailants who had been fighting with the boy who ended up seriously wounded.

Police did not disclose the names of the victims. The other assailants were still being sought late Monday.

The shooting occurred about 3:40 p.m. at the corner of Nordhoff Street and Haskell Avenue, about 10 minutes after classes were dismissed, according to authorities. The incident started as a fistfight between the teen who later was seriously injured and the group of young men whom police described as possible gang members.

One of the young men pulled out a pistol and opened fire, striking the 17-year-old victim in the abdomen and grazing his head with another bullet, Curreri said.

The assailants ran east on Nordhoff about two blocks and turned south on Orion Avenue, Curreri said.

“It’s really scary,” said Cynthia Verdugo, a 14-year-old freshman who heard Monday’s shots. “Some of my friends walk over that way. It’s just horrible.”

There were many bystanders on the street at the time of Monday’s shooting, according to witnesses. Nearby on campus, the football team was holding practice and ROTC members were drilling. No one else was hurt, however.

In the aftermath of Monday’s shooting, security at Monroe will be increased with extra LAPD and school police officers, said Alba.

Crisis counselors will be available to talk with students, authorities said.

In the previous shootings, Ricky Evans, 15, was killed Nov. 21, 1997, in a drive-by incident near the school after a football game. Evans was a member of his church’s drill team; he was about to participate in an anti-violence event. A 15-year-old gang member was arrested in connection with that incident.

In another shooting June 18, Jose Gonzalez, 17, was critically wounded, also in a drive-by, as he stood near a bus bench at Nordhoff and Haskell.