3 Injured in Attack by Youths in Huntington

Police were searching Saturday for a group of 15 or more youths brandishing knives and brass knuckles who allegedly attacked and fired a shotgun at three friends who were playing basketball in a city park.

Anderson Minh Phan, 22, and Linh Tuan Nguyen, 19, both students, were playing basketball with Yong Houn, 22, a cashier, at about 8 p.m. in Murdy Park, at Norma Drive and Golden West Street, when they were set upon by the armed youths, Sgt. Larry Miller said.

Before the fight was over, Phan was unconscious on the ground with a swollen eye, his face slashed from brass knuckles, Houn was bleeding from a knife wound, his face also cut, and Nguyen’s lip was swollen and split, police said.

All three victims were treated and released from local hospitals, police said.

Police said Saturday that no evidence has surfaced of gang involvement in the attack. But Lt. Jon Arnold said the park has been the scene of gang scuffles before.

“Obviously, a group that shows up on a basketball court with a set of brass knuckles, a shotgun and a knife, that’s not regular basketball equipment,” Arnold said. “It may have been just a dispute between individuals and not between gangs. But obviously we’re concerned.”

Police believe the attackers to be in their late teens. The youth who police believe fired the shotgun was described by witnesses as of thin build, about 5-foot-6, with black hair and wearing a white T-shirt and baggy black pants.

Witnesses said another attacker, armed with brass knuckles, had his head shaved and had two long black strands hanging down in front on both sides of his face, police said.

Some of the attackers might have sped from the scene in a black Acura Integra, Miller said.