Sole Officer Sought Aid at Grant High

VAN NUYS — Despite signs that tensions between Armenian and Latino students at Grant High School were increasing this week, only one Los Angeles Unified School District police officer was on campus when skirmishes erupted just outside the school gates Tuesday that ended with two stabbings and a shooting.

School district police acknowledged Wednesday the officer had requested help because of rumors that a fight might erupt but that another officer was not dispatched to the school until after classes ended for the day.

Los Angeles school district police Chief Wes Mitchell said the district has just seven patrol units for the entire San Fernando Valley and actual emergencies take priority over rumors of trouble.

The Grant officer, Jack Lee, was overwhelmed by the flare-ups, which began at about 2 p.m. Lee, who declined to be interviewed, called for help a second time to report that a large group of students were fighting, said Sgt. Steve Masters of the school district police.

“He came out of school and saw this large group of kids and they were polarizing and getting ready to fight,” Masters said. “He was excited. It’s not what normally happens after school.”

Police said Tuesday’s melee involved between 50 and 100 students and that one officer would be unable to quell large-scale fighting.

Animosity between Armenian and Latino students had been growing since a fight broke out last Wednesday and students said they expected more problems on the campus. Tensions were high Tuesday and students said rumors were rampant about another fight, said Andrea Bauman, a 16-year-old junior.

“Everyone knew that something was going to go on,” said Bauman, who was trying to drive out of the school parking lot Tuesday when the fight erupted.

Two Armenian juniors suffered multiple stab wounds as they left the campus Tuesday afternoon. Police said they ran to a relative’s house near the school for help. One of the boys, whose names were not made public, was released from Valley Medical Center on Wednesday and the other, who suffered a collapsed lung, remained hospitalized for treatment.

A 16-year-old Latino boy was wounded in the calf in a drive-by shooting three blocks from the campus about 10 minutes after the stabbings. The boy was transferred to County-USC Medical Center for observation and was listed in stable condition Wednesday.

While police said they have no suspects, they said the incidents likely were gang-related. School officials, family members and the victims’ friends, however, said the boys are not gang members.

Meanwhile, the campus was calm Wednesday and police officers surrounded the campus after school to disperse students. Principal Eve Sherman, in a morning address, tried to reassure students, and parents were given notices about the incidents. The school’s Back to School Night, scheduled for tonight, will include a discussion about the fights.

“The safest place to be is in school and in class--you should not loiter when traveling to and from school,” Sherman told the students Wednesday morning. “Please consider how very valuable and precious life is.”

Sitting behind a desk with a plaque reading, “The Buck Stops Here,” Sherman acknowledged the continuing problems between the two ethnic groups, the largest at the school. But she also defended the school’s response.

“We do our metal detection every day, we have more campus security aides, we have taken every precaution,” she said. “One of the reasons (Tuesday’s violence) happened off campus is because we are so visible.”

She said the Armenian boys who were stabbed were “good kids,” who studied hard.

One of the boys is an honors student in several Advanced Placement classes, including Spanish, she said. The other Armenian boy has only been in the country 2 1/2 years but was taking English-language classes. The Latino boy, she said, was also taking transitional English classes.

Ethnic tensions have been present on the Van Nuys campus for some time, and Armenian and Latino students have been sent to one-day retreats to discuss diversity and conflict resolution. Sherman said a fight erupted last spring between the two groups, sparking more classroom discussions about different ethnic groups.

Teachers are scheduled to attend a workshop next week, in fact, on ethnic diversity.

But this week, the animosity reached a new height. On Monday, a lunchtime brawl broke out, prompting Sherman to call for more police assistance on the campus.

On Tuesday, administrators also believed there could be potential problems. Lee called school district police at about 1 p.m. asking for assistance at dismissal time.

But when the students were let out of school at 2 p.m., Lee was alone to deal with the problems. Sherman and another administrator were in a car, driving the perimeter of the school to see if there was trouble.

“I don’t know what else we could have done,” Sherman said. “We called all the people we needed to call. We were very visible.”

“Dismissal is always the critical time,” said Lt. Walter Nelon of the school district police. “You have large numbers of kids leaving the campus and you have outsiders around the campus. That’s . . . when most of your problems will occur.”

Times staff writer Julio Moran and correspondent Maki Becker contributed to this story.