Suspect to Be Tried as an Adult

SYLMAR —  A 17-year-old youth, allegedly involved in a videotaped paint-ball attack, was ordered Thursday to stand trial as an adult, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

The youth will be charged either Friday or Monday with 14 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, she said.

His co-defendants, Ruffy Flores, Malcolm Boyd and Anthony Skoblar, are also accused of attacking pedestrians and bicyclists with a baseball bat and paint-ball pellets during the late-night spree last November.

Exploding paint-balls were fired at pedestrians, bicyclists and homeless people who can be witnessed on the videotape cringing and crying out in pain as they are struck. Some victims were shot in the face.

The incidents were chronicled in graphic detail on a videotape shot by the four defendants and later confiscated by police, prosecutors said.

On the tape, the four youths can be heard laughing and joking about the attacks.

Skoblar was also 17 at the time of the attacks but was found fit to stand trial as an adult.

Paint-ball guns are designed to be used in mock war games, by competitors protected by heavy clothing, goggles and masks.