Student, 17, Is Slain at School in Burbank

BURBANK —  A 17-year-old summer school student was stabbed to death after class Friday at Burbank High School, the first homicide in the history of the Burbank school district but the latest in a string of campus killings in the Los Angeles area.

Adam Smith, who was set to begin his senior year at Burroughs High School this fall, died from two knife wounds to his chest and abdomen, authorities said.

A 16-year-old fellow student was booked on suspicion of murder and transferred to juvenile hall, and a knife was found at the scene, Burbank police said. A classmate said Smith had flirted with his assailant’s girlfriend.

In February 1993, a 17-year-old student was shot and killed at Reseda High School by a 15-year-old schoolmate while a dozen teenagers looked on. That incident came weeks after the killing of a 16-year-old student in a Fairfax High School classroom, after which the Los Angeles Unified School District launched an unprecedented program of random metal detector spot checks for weapons in the nation’s second-largest school system.

A 15-year-old Monroe High School freshman was shot to death in a drive-by shooting near the school after a football game last November.

On May 1, an 18-year-old was shot in the face outside Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda during a track meet. And a 17-year-old Monroe High School student was wounded by gunfire June 18 in a drive-by shooting across the street from the campus.

Burbank Police Sgt. Ron Caruso said officers investigating a report of an assault with a deadly weapon found Smith bleeding badly in the parking lot of the school in the 900 block of North 3rd Street.

Julien Cambuston, 17, said he had left class early and was returning to visit a friend when he spotted Smith and the other boy.

“Adam kept saying he didn’t want to have any problems with him,” Cambuston said. “He put his hand on the guy’s arm. The guy took his knife out of his pocket and started stabbing him.”

The assailant then pushed Smith and ran off, Cambuston said. Another student shouted for someone to call an ambulance.

Smith lay on the ground, mortally wounded.

“He was shaking. He was very pale,” Cambuston said. “He couldn’t say anything. He was just coughing up blood.”

Smith was rushed by ambulance to Providence-St. Joseph Medical Center, where two doctors worked to save him before pronouncing him dead nearly 45 minutes later, a hospital source said.

“At this point there is no indication that this is gang-related,” Caruso said. “We are investigating it as a possible argument that escalated to a stabbing.”

Classmate Jonathan Ueland said Smith appeared to have been targeted by the jealous boyfriend of a girl Smith had been seeing.

“During this past year, I saw [Smith and the girl] together at school,” said Ueland, 17. “They were all flirty and everything. I guess her boyfriend found out. . . . I don’t even know if Adam knew who this guy was.”

Nick Jastrow, a classmate, described Smith as an affable class clown.

“He didn’t have a lot of trouble with people,” said Jastrow, 17. “He minded his own business most of the time. . . . He was a character. He’d make you laugh.”

Another friend, Tony Alonzo, shared English and history classes with Smith last year.

“He didn’t deserve that,” said Alonzo, 17. “He didn’t deserve to get killed.”

Burbank Police Chief Dave Newsham called the attack “a random act” and said it could not have been prevented. He said a Burbank police officer was on the campus when the stabbing occurred.

“I think this kind of thing can happen no matter what,” Newsham said.

Burbank Unified School District Supt. David Apotnik said both teens were full-time students at John Burroughs High School in Burbank but were attending summer school at Burbank High.

Apotnik said Burbank High School was the only campus in the district with summer school classes, which run from 8 a.m. to noon. The students were in the second week of a six-week session.

“This happened after school let out,” Apotnik said.

The altercation that led to the stabbing occurred on a pathway leading to the parking lot at the southeast end of campus, Apotnik said.

Summer school Principal Emilio Urioste, who taught Smith in Spanish class two years ago, called him “a good kid.”

The killing “just left me numb,” he said.

City officials were also stunned.

“Someone brings a knife or a gun to school--you can’t stop that kind of thing,” City Councilman Ted McConkey said. “It seems to be getting worse.

“After the police and school officials determine what happened and how it happened, the [city] council, I’m sure, will cooperate with any additional measures, including funds for additional police personnel if necessary.

“We will have a crisis-intervention team on campus Monday morning to respond to student and staff needs, and several additional security personnel will be added to the campus as a temporary measure.”

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Scott Glover, Margaret Ramirez, Jill Leovy, Solomon Moore and correspondents Jon Steinman and Claire Vitucci.