3 Teens to Be Tried as Adults

Three teenagers suspected in the fatal shooting of an 89-year-old man at an Ontario park last week will be tried as adults, officials at the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Jamal Tyron Rhone of Ontario, Fredrick Melvin Stewart and Trayvon Andrew Patterson, both of Rancho Cucamonga, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of first-degree mur- der, attempted robbery and participation in a criminal street gang.

The three 16-year-old Chaffey High School students remained jailed Tuesday, with bail set at $1 million apiece.

They deserved to be charged as adults because of the seriousness of the crime, said prosecutor Karen Schmauss.

Police said that the teens revealed during questioning that they had also committed at least two previous daytime robberies at the park.

Fidencio Guzman of Ontario was taking his daily walk about 4 p.m. Thursday at John Galvin Park when three teens tried to rob him outside a restroom, Ontario police said.

Guzman, a widower who did not speak English, had no money, police said.

Police reports state that Rhone fired a handgun, striking Guzman twice. He died minutes later at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland. The fatal shot punctured his liver, stomach and diaphragm, reports state.

After the shooting, witnesses said, the assailants sprinted from the scene, exchanging celebratory high-fives and congratulatory pats on the backs.

Court records show that in police interviews, Stewart and Patterson identified Rhone as the shooter.

Prosecutors declined to file a special-circumstance allegation to the crime, meaning that the three would be subject to life in prison without parole -- not the death penalty -- if convicted.