Latino-Armenian Friction at School Sparks Violence

Two Grant High School juniors were stabbed and a 16-year-old student shot near the Van Nuys campus Tuesday, apparently because of animosity between Armenian and Latino students that led to scattered after-school fighting, school authorities said.

Two boys of Armenian descent who were stabbed several times as they walked to their cars after school were being treated at Valley Medical Center, where they were listed in fair condition.

A third student, a Latino who was wounded in the calf in a drive-by shooting about 10 minutes after the stabbings, was in satisfactory condition at the Medical Center of North Hollywood, police and school authorities said.

No arrests had been made, and police were investigating the stabbings and the shooting. Detective Craig Rhudy of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division blamed the violence on tensions between Latino and Armenian gangs, which he said have been at odds for years.

“There have been fights, stabbings, shootings--just about everything,” Rhudy said.

Between 50 and 100 students were involved in skirmishes after school, said Sgt. Steve Masters of the Los Angeles Unified School District police.

Ivna Gusmo, a Grant High School guidance counselor, said tensions between the Armenians and Latinos--the two largest ethnic groups at the school--have been high. “You have the hormones flying and the machismo . . . ,” she said.