Valley teen killed at party is mourned

CHATSWORTH - Students, friends and faculty on Monday mourned the death of a 16-year-old Stoney Point High School student shot at a weekend birthday party.
Michael Fabian died early Sunday after a fight broke out at a Northridge birthday party with about 150 people that gang members might have crashed, police said.
Stony Point High officials paid tribute to the quiet Winnetka boy who transferred from Taft High School in September to catch up on his studies.
"It's just really hard," Stoney Point Principal George Padgett said. "We need to be conscious of everybody's feelings - not just the students, but the staff. It's so tragic that, all around the Valley, students are being killed."
On Monday, the Los Angeles Unified School District dispatched grief counselors and psychologists to help students and faculty members. In addition, parents were being notified of the shooting.
Michael died in an alley behind a home in the 8500 block of Corbin Avenue after trying to keep people from getting involved in the fight about 12:45 a.m., said Detective Mike Fesperman of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.
It's unclear what started the altercation, but it apparently involved someone who might be a gang member, Fesperman said.
Words were exchanged inside the home, and then partygoers spilled into the alley, where Michael and another person were shot.
The second victim, whose name was not released, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and is expected to recover, Fesperman said.
No description of the shooter was provided other than "Latino male."
Michael was a genuinely good kid who just got caught in the crossfire, officials said.
"He was not a gang member of any kind," Padgett said. "He was a nice young man, very quiet, definitely doing what he could to catch up on his credits."