Youth, 16, to Be Tried as Adult in Sylmar Drive-By Shooting Case

A 16-year-old reputed gang member from Pacoima will be tried as an adult for his part in the drive-by shooting of two youths outside a Sylmar junior high school last month, a Juvenile Hall commissioner decided Wednesday.

Victor Manuel Martinez is charged as a juvenile with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm and two counts of weapons possession, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Bilus. New charges will be filed against him in San Fernando Superior Court later this week or early next week, Bilus said.

On May 3, Martinez and a 13-year-old accomplice had fired from a car into a group of students outside Olive Vista Junior High School, wounding two 14-year-old boys. Francisco Plascencia was shot in the head and Hugo Lopez in the legs, Bilus said. They were reported in stable condition Tuesday.

Sylmar Juvenile Hall Commissioner Gary A. Polinsky found Martinez unfit to stand trial as a juvenile because of the sophistication of the crime and because of the circumstances and gravity of the offense, Bilus said.

The 13-year-old co-defendant will be tried as a juvenile, Bilus said.

The two suspects were arrested about half an hour after the 3:10 p.m. shooting. Witnesses said the shooting victims were in a crowd of about 30 students walking on Borden Avenue next to the school’s athletic field when about six shots were fired from a red Mustang.