2 Teens Arrested in Rancho P.V. After BB-Gun Vandalism

Two “thrill-seeking” teen-agers have been arrested by sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of shooting out the windows of as many as 45 cars in a two-week BB-gun shooting spree around Rancho Palos Verdes.

Sheriff’s Detective Marty Weirich said that after they were arrested on suspicion of vandalism, Loren William Bury, 19, of Torrance and Vicki Banks, 18, of Hermosa Beach confessed that they vandalized most of the cars “as a way of wasting time.”

Neither of the teen-agers has been charged, and both are free until the investigation of the case is completed, Weirich said. Sheriff’s officials said they will ask the district attorney’s office to charge the pair with vandalism.

$8,000 in Damage

Total damage to the 45 cars has been estimated at more than $8,000.

Neither Bury nor Banks could be reached for comment. Jeffrey Gray, a lawyer for Bury, said he has not had a chance to study police reports on the incident. “But as far as we are concerned, he is innocent at this point,” Gray said.

Deputies said they hope the arrests will slow a wave of vandalism in Rancho Palos Verdes, where the windows of 80 cars have been damaged by BB guns in the last two months.

But investigators said they are still looking for the vandals who damaged 35 other cars. “We believe there are more people out there doing it,” Weirich said.

The pair was arrested just after midnight Friday when patrolling deputies saw the 1979 red Ford Mustang driven by Bury and it matched victims’ descriptions, Sgt. Ben Sheumaker said.

Deputies questioned the two at the corner of Highridge and Crestridge roads and saw a BB rifle in the back seat of the car.

The two admitted they were responsible for many of the shootings, which began June 19, Weirich said. “They admitted they were wrong and drove around with me and pointed out 30 cars” that they shot at, Weirich said.

The two friends, who Weirich called “thrill-seekers,” said they shot at the cars “as a way of wasting time. They liked to watch the windows break,” Weirich said. “Later, it became a thing of skill to see if they could make (windows break like) a spider web, rather than breaking them out into the street. If it broke out, then it was a bad shot.”

The youths shot only at parked cars without passengers, deputies said. They would typically pull up alongside a parked car and fire with the BB rifle or a BB pistol at the driver’s side window, Weirich said.

“They claimed that they did not shoot any Mustangs, Jaguars or BMWs, because they liked those cars,” Weirich said. “Everything else was fair game--from limousines and Cadillacs to beat-up old Volkswagens. It didn’t matter.”

They picked Rancho Palos Verdes for the late-night forays because Banks once lived there and they considered the streets relatively free of police, Weirich said.