Not exactly. I figured it was a shootout between a couple of gondoleers involved in a canal-rage incident.
Posted on 06/06/2006 12:17:33 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
A 17-year-old Venice High School student was fatally shot Monday after a fistfight between black and Latino students spilled onto the campus parking lot, police and witnesses said.
Police were unsure Monday evening if the student, identified as Augustine Contreras, had been shot in the chest or the face. LAPD officers were searching a section of Venice's Oakwood neighborhood for the assailant in the 3:10 p.m. attack, which authorities believe was tied to a gang dispute.
Two people were briefly detained and then were released, officials said.
"It was a very chaotic situation," said Police Capt. Bill Williams, who added that the clash involved several students who scattered after the victim was shot.
Although the fight was described by witnesses as between Latinos and blacks, the gangs involved are believed to be interracial, Sgt. Lee Sands of the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Venice High, which is on the Westside, has long struggled with problems linked to several gang-plagued neighborhoods that surround the campus.
The racial tensions at Venice, although reportedly less than at other Los Angeles Unified School District campuses such as Jefferson High, nonetheless bubble up periodically, students and community members said.
"The kids that feed into this school come from a community that has active gangs, and the schools are a reflection of this," school Police Officer Jose Santome said.
Some community activists said their biggest fear was of some sort of gang retaliation for the killing.
"It's almost guaranteed," said Oscar de la Torre, a community activist who deals with race relations on the Westside.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
bringing guns to a fistfight, or fists to a gunfight?
Evil gun probably walked there on its own, pulled its own trigger, and aimed itself. Though not in that order.
Sad about the kid though.
In fact, Augustine Contreras himself was unclear on the issue.
In that school, it is far more likely that someone brought a knife to a fistfight, which quickly became a gunfight. That's how it was at my LAUSD school; I attended Belmont.
Chances are that there will be one or more drivebys in the next day or so, and they'll probably hit everyone and everything *but* the guy they were aiming at.
Keeping my eye on this one.
I bet that they were fighting over which minority was ranked #1 in the country (/sarcasm)
Or did it go more like this: somebody called somebody else's sister a ho, and the trouble began.
Am I the only one who thought this was about Venice, Louisiana?
Not exactly. I figured it was a shootout between a couple of gondoleers involved in a canal-rage incident.
They were calculating the trajectory of the pellets from their pea shooters. /s
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