Four teenagers are in custody in connection with the slaying of a 21-year-old man in San Rafael that investigators believe was the result of a dispute between rival gangs

Four teenagers are in custody in connection with the slaying of a 21-year-old man in San Rafael that investigators believe was the result of a dispute between rival gangs, a police spokeswoman said Thursday.

Carlos Guiterrez, 18, of San Rafael, a student at Madrone High School, and three boys - a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds - were arrested on suspicion of murder with gang enhancements in the stabbing death Wednesday of 21-year-old Jeffrie Lee Olmstead, police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher said.

One of the 17-year-olds attends Novato High School, and the other two juveniles are students at County Community School in San Rafael, Rohrbacher said. All four suspects are gang members, she said.

The names of the juveniles have not been released.

The incident began when police received reports of "young men armed with sticks and bats" running on the 600 block of B Street near the San Rafael Community Center at 4:53 p.m., Rohrbacher said.

More callers reported that they saw a Pontiac Grand Am chasing a Ford Explorer in the Gerstle Park neighborhood, Rohrbacher said. The two vehicles ended up on Woods Street, where the occupants of both cars jumped out and began fighting, she said.

Three occupants of the Ford, including Olmstead, were stabbed, police said.

A resident called 911 and said a bleeding man, later identified as Olmstead, had come to her door and asked for help before collapsing, police said.

Olmstead was taken to Marin General Hospital, where he died. Police later learned that he had told his friends to leave him, Rohrbacher said.

The two other stabbing victims from the Ford were dropped off at the emergency room. The men, ages 20 and 21, were treated for minor injuries and released.

California Highway Patrol officers found the Ford Explorer with a smashed windshield in Corte Madera at 5:17 p.m. and stopped it on Tamal Vista Boulevard. The driver was detained and the vehicle impounded.

The Pontiac was found unoccupied on Front Street in San Rafael shortly after midnight, Rohrbacher said.