According to the local news and it is really covered by Bill Carroll at 640 am they were verbally exchanging barbs in their seats but it escalated after the game and leaving to parking lot.
It was one of the many leads they had been following - who had the seats, who bought them...
I listen to Bill Carroll and I have never heard of barbs being traded between these thugs and the Stow party. They do not remember these thugs from within the game at all.
Yes, barbs were traded INSIDE the game between OTHER thuggish Dodger fans, and then the Stow family did not continue the “friendly” taunts because the other side got nasty and started to throw heavy objects (full drinks, etc) at them. At that point, Bryan Stow texted to someone that he was actually afraid.
As they walked out of the stadium, they encountered these violent thugs for the first time, and I believe they were hit or roughed up a little, but they just continued walking and did not engage. In his job as an EMT, Stow knew how to break up fights or discourage them, so he kept walking. It was about 5 minutes later that these thugs RE-APPEARED and slugged Stow in the head, from BEHIND, with something deadly.