Police Arrest 4 Juveniles After Teen Slain in Encino

ENCINO —  A Tarzana teenager was stabbed to death outside a birthday party in an upscale Valley neighborhood early Sunday after turning away several alleged gang members who tried to crash the party.

Four other teenagers were arrested hours later in connection with the death of Abtin Tangestanisar, 17. He was stabbed several times in the chest outside a party in the 17900 block of Medley Drive, said officers from the West Valley Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Five to eight suspected gang members attempted to crash the festivities, said homicide Det. Rick Swanston. Tangestanisar refused to allow the youths entrance to the party, but they lingered outside on the street.

After Tangestanisar and his friends left the party, the suspects confronted and fatally wounded him, Swanston said. Afterward, the suspects fled in three vehicles: a white Mercedes-Benz, a silver Mercedes and a burgundy Jeep Cherokee.

Tangestanisar was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No one else was injured in the attack.

Later Sunday morning, authorities arrested two Chatsworth 16-year-olds and impounded a white Mercedes owned by the parents of one of the suspects. Swanston described the youths as part of a “local street gang” active in the North Hollywood area. In the afternoon, police arrested two 17-year-old suspects at the Granada Hills home of one of them. Officers recovered the suspected murder weapon--a buck knife--as well as a burgundy Jeep, police said.

Police declined to release the names of the suspects because all are juveniles. They are being held on suspicion of murder at Juvenile Hall in Sylmar.

The victim’s relatives declined to comment on the killing. Police said they do not believe the victim was a gang member.

The neighborhood where the stabbing took place consists of large homes shaded by tall trees. On Sunday, the only reminder of the previous night’s crime was a palm-sized bloodstain on the ground across the street from the house where the party occurred.

“I was shocked when I found out that a 17-year-old died,” said Bob Winters, 66, a rubber recycler who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years. “This is a different world that we live in these days.”