The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES. California (AP) -- Families of those killed in street violence gathered Saturday for a peace vigil in the midst of a recent murder spike that police attribute in part to surging gang violence.
While the nation is worrying about terrorism, “we have terrorism right here in Los Angeles every day,” said Earl Thomas, assistant chief of criminal operations for the city attorney’s office.
Photographs of more than 50 people killed in drive-by shootings, kidnappings or other violence hung in the hall at Dolores Mission School near downtown. About half the people in the crowded room rose when those who had lost family members to gang violence were asked to stand.
Jack Morales, 39, of Pico Rivera, lost his 12-year-old son to a gang shooting in 1998. Steven was gunned down while playing with baseball with his friends near the family’s Highland Park home.
A local gang member, who since has fled to Mexico, fired a handgun at a rival gang member he saw running down some stairs several houses away, Morales said.
“The bullet went through all my children, my family,” said Morales, who has three other children. “Every single day getting up is a hard day. It’s not like a cut. It’s not gonna heal.”
While homicides citywide dropped 22 percent in the first quarter, murders soared in the past two weeks. At least 14 people have died, including five in one weekend in South Central Los Angeles.
“The violence level in this city is incredible,” police Assistant Chief of Operations Jim McDonnell, told families.
The toll continued over the weekend. A man was gunned down Saturday night in the city’s southeast area and another man died and two other people were wounded shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday in South Central when a car passenger got out and opened fire on people standing outside.
Thirty-nine percent of the 122 homicides reported in the city from January 1 through March 29 were gang-related, according to police statistics. No comparison figure for last year was provided.
McDonnell said a variety of causes were responsible for the spike in killings, including gang turf battles and hot weather that has brought more young people out on the streets.
Police have been stretched for manpower, McDonnell said, especially now that they must guard sites against terrorism and handle anti-war protests. But he defended the LAPD’s new anti-gang effort.
“There’s no way of measuring what would have happened had we not focused on gangs,” he said.
Victims’ families had mixed views on whether efforts to reduce gang violence throughout Los Angeles County were working.
“I don’t think we’re safe anywhere. It’s a hateful world,” said Jennifer Marino, 22, of Whittier. Her brother was shot in March 2002 in Granada Hills while visiting his girlfriend. Two men are awaiting trial for the shooting.