An Ominous Upturn in L.A. Gang Violence Raises the Question Anew: Why?
August 14, 2000
After years of decline, gang-related homicides have jumped 131% so far this year. Officials have ideas about what's behind the increased bloodshed, but a clear-cut answer remains elusive.
It was already one of the bloodiest nights of an increasingly
deadly summer in South Los Angeles when Barbara Bullock slid into the
back seat of a Chevrolet Caprice to accompany three friends for a
late-night snack at a popular drive-through restaurant.
She probably never noticed the blue and gray Georgetown Hoyas cap worn
by one of her friends, but two men in a dark Buick apparently mistook the
hat as a symbol for a rival gang.
After the group left the restaurant, the two men pulled up, flashed
gang signs and shot into the car, hitting a passenger and the driver, who
lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a storefront church.
Bullock, a 23-year-old beauty shop manager who dreamed of becoming a
veterinarian, wasn't shot, but she suffered massive internal injuries in
the crash. She died five days later.
That early morning attack on July 18 was the last of five unrelated
shootings over a 3 1/2-hour period in a three-mile swath of South Los
Angeles.
The night of bloodshed started with two unrelated drive-by shootings.
A short time later, police found the bullet-riddled body of an ex-felon
in an alley near a crack house. Less than two miles away, a man was shot
five times in a liquor store parking lot.
At 1:05 a.m., the spate of violence in the LAPD's 77th Division ended
when Bullock and her friends careened into the church wall.
The toll for the 3 1/2 hours: two dead and seven wounded. The
shootings--four of which were classified by police as
gang-related--served as a gruesome illustration that violence in the city
had taken a turn for the worse.
After years of decline, gang-related homicides have jumped 131% so far
this year over last, resurrecting Los Angeles' reputation as a city where
innocent bystanders die for wearing the wrong colors and inner-city
children sometimes sleep in bathtubs to avoid errant gunfire.
"It seems like the violence is all over," said 82-year-old South Los
Angeles resident Dave La Mountain, who sleeps with a machete next to his
bed.
The bloodshed has not been confined to poverty-stricken neighborhoods,
or to poor people.
A shootout between rival gangs from South-Central and Inglewood
erupted in July at a mall in middle-class Culver City, killing two young
men and wounding three others. Even the granddaughter of Los Angeles
Police Chief Bernard C. Parks was not safe. She was killed outside a
fast-food restaurant a week before her 21st birthday--the unintended
victim of a gang hit.
Why the increase? Why now?
There are no clear-cut answers, but many gang experts suggest a
combination of factors, headed by an escalating war among gangs over
turf, reputation and drug sales, as well as the easy access to
high-powered weapons.
"We definitely have a gang war going on," Lt. O'Neil Carter said,
referring to his Southeast Division, where police reported five unrelated
shootings on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
What provokes the deadly feuds across the city and the ensuing cycle
of retaliatory attacks is often a mystery--even to gang members.
"You can ask a gang member why they are feuding, and they'll say, 'Oh,
my homeboy got hit,' but they are only talking about the recent history.
They don't know what started it," said LAPD Capt. Terry Hara, a commander
with the department's anti-gang unit.
Former gang members say the feuding has even embroiled gangs that
historically have been allied, such as a handful of Crip sets that are
fighting in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles.
Some gang members say there is something special about the year 2000
and that they want to make their mark. "That's all you really hear people
talking about, '2000 this and that,' 'You gotta do this for the hood,' "
said Manual Hyde, 17, a member of the Rollin' 60s (Crips) gang.
Among the theories for the rise in slayings is the notion that gang
members today are younger, better armed and more likely to retaliate with
deadly violence than in the past.
"This generation of gang members are afraid of no . . . body--momma,
daddy, school, truant officer," said T. Rodgers, a founding member of a
Bloods faction who now works to end street violence.
Statistics seem to support that premise: Nearly 70% of the city's
known homicide suspects were between the ages of 13 and 24 this year,
compared with 46% last year.
Some academics and police suggest that the recent increase in
shootings reflects the cyclical pattern of gang violence. Gang activity
had decreased for so long that it was just a matter of time before it
shot up again, they argue.
"These things are going to bottom out at some time," said USC
sociology professor Malcolm Klein. "We don't have explanations."
Exacerbating the problem is the Rampart police corruption scandal in
which several officers are accused of planting evidence and shooting
unarmed gang members.
In the wake of the scandal, Parks disbanded the controversial CRASH
gang unit but, so far, the replacement team is about 20% below full
strength.
Some officers in the field say the department's internal problems have
emboldened gang members.
LAPD commanders concede that the Rampart scandal has hurt morale but
reject suggestions that the dismantling of CRASH is responsible for the
increase in gang murders.
Still, some LAPD officers and prosecutors suggest that the scandal has
made officers more reluctant to pursue an in-your-face crackdown on
suspected gang members for fear of being pulled into the police
investigation. Indeed, arrests citywide are down 25% this year, but LAPD
commanders attribute the decrease to an attrition rate that has cut the
number of officers patrolling the street by 5%.
Police, however, point out that gang-related murders remain
substantially lower than they were in the early 1990s, when gang warfare
fueled by turf killings over drugs escalated to unprecedented levels.
While the decade-long comparison offers perspective, the recent surge
in homicides raises fears that the city is heading back toward the
murderous days of the past.
Overall, homicides in the city are up 30% this year. A total of 305
people were killed as of July 31 compared with 235 in the same period
last year. About half of the city's murders have taken place in four of
the LAPD's 16 divisions: Newton, 77th, Southeast and Harbor, all located
in the southern part of Los Angeles.
Gang intervention specialists, many of whom are former gang members
themselves, say a shortage of funding for intervention programs has made
the situation worse.
But money may not always be the answer.
The city of Los Angeles has more than doubled its funding for gang
programs since 1996, from $5 million per year to $11.3 million a year.
In April, City Auditor Rick Tuttle released a report that described
the city's anti-gang program, known as L.A. Bridges, as so ineffective
that it should be dismantled or completely overhauled. Still, the Los
Angeles City Council voted to fund the program for another year,
promising to make the reforms needed for it to succeed.
5 Incidents in One Deadly Night
The night of July 17 illustrates the daunting challenge ahead for
police and policymakers in curbing gang violence.
The first shooting that night occurred about 9:45 p.m. A 20-year-old
man and a friend were walking through a tree-lined neighborhood near
Crenshaw High School and spotted a Chevy Monte Carlo approaching from
behind, according to police.
The men, who police declined to identify, got suspicious and started
to cross the street when a man in the car opened fire, striking the
20-year-old victim in the heel of his foot, police said.
The shooting shows the difficulty in identifying suspects or motives.
It took place on gang turf but police said any number of warring gangs
could have been responsible.
Less than two hours after the first shooting, gunfire erupted less
than a mile away.
Two men, ages 21 and 29, described by police as likely gang members,
were standing on the sidewalk near 73rd Street and 10th Avenue in Hyde
Park when a gunman in a passing dark Toyota opened fire.
The 29-year-old man was hit in the leg and the other man was shot in
the wrist. Bullets pierced an apartment where three children were
sleeping. They were not hurt.
The wounded men refused to provide information to police. "That
happens a lot with gang members," said Det. Matt Mahoney of the 77th
Division. "They'd rather retaliate."
Shortly after midnight, police were called to the corner of Gage and
Western avenues. They found Grover Tinner, 48, an ex-felon with an
extensive criminal history, shot to death in an alley adjacent to the
stucco duplex that neighbors say had been used for drug sales.
Two days later, Damian Monroe Williams, 27, who served four years in
prison for attacking truck driver Reginald Denny during the 1992 riots,
surrendered to police. A warrant had been issued for his arrest. Williams
was not charged in Tinner's slaying but is still being held on a parole
violation.
At about 12:55 a.m. July 18, Ernest Young, 28, was wounded in a
barrage of gunfire. The attack was another brutal example of how "gang
payback" shootings go down. Its victim had once been an active member of
the Eight-Tray Hoover Crips.
Young arrived at J.T. Corner Liquor, near the corner of Figueroa and
45th streets, with two friends. Perhaps suspecting him a Blood, several
members of the Five-Deuce Broadway Crips gang approached Young and asked
where he was from.
According to a witness who asked not to be identified, Young replied:
"Hoover."
"What set?" they asked.
"Eight-Tray," he said.
Young did not know that his old set had been feuding with the
Five-Deuce Broadways, a rival Crips set.
Later, one of the Five-Deuce Broadway gangsters walked up to Young in
the parking lot.
"What set you say you was from again, cuz?" the man said, holding a
.38 pistol at his side.
Before Young could answer, the gunman fired, hitting Young in the left
leg, in the left arm and three times in the left hip. Young fell to the
ground and scrambled into the store, where he collapsed.
Young was transported to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and
released five days later.
That same night, only three blocks away, Barbara Bullock stepped out
of her front door just after midnight and jumped into a 1985 Caprice with
her friends, who were on their way to the Quick N' Split near the corner
of 79th Street and Western Avenue.
Bullock sat in the back with Sylvester Watson, 19. Bullock's best
friend, Teresa Daniels, 23, was in the front passenger seat. Haason
Baker, 20, was the driver.
As the Caprice left the Quick N' Split drive-through, Daniels noticed
a two-door Buick following with its lights off. The Buick pulled
alongside and two men inside flashed gang hand signs, Daniels recalled.
"I saw gunfire coming from the car," she said. "I could hear the
bullets hitting the car."
Police say the gunmen fired a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol about
six times, striking Baker in the back and left arm, and Watson in the
right leg.
Near 69th Street and Western Avenue, Baker lost control of the car and
ran into a storefront church.
Daniels suffered a gash to her head and a cracked spine. Bullock, who
was not wearing a seat belt, was rushed to the hospital with a broken
collarbone, pelvis, left arm and several cracked ribs.
Five days later, Bullock's kidneys failed, and later her heart
stopped.
Bullock's aunt Janice Hall said that she believes the Georgetown hat
with the large "G" on the front worn by Watson provoked the attack.
"They got them mistaken thinking it was somebody from Eight-Tray
[Crips]," Hall said, noting that several area gangs wear the hat because
the "G" stands for gangster.
Daniels doesn't believe Watson's hat provoked the shooting. "They
probably thought we lived around there, that we were one of the rivals.
Or they could have been trying to jack us," she said.
During Bullock's funeral at a small Pasadena church, Bullock's aunt
Pamela Bullock took the podium and called for an end to all gang
affiliations.
"I don't care nothing about a blue rag or a red rag. It's all the
Lord's rag and it's time to make a change," she told the crowd of about
200 people.
Moments later, a tall, burly man with braided hair said he felt
somewhat unwelcome at the event, but added: "We didn't come to represent
no gang; we're here to represent Barbara. We loved her, too."
Answers Sought to Halt Violence
The recent surge in gang killings has become an unmistakable reminder
that the gang problem--although less pronounced for several
years--remains unsolved.
Elected officials have convened community meetings and "emergency
summits." No consensus has been reached on why the increase is occurring
or what is the best strategy to halt it.
Nonetheless, the Los Angeles City Council voted last month to spend $2
million in additional funds to put 2,000 teenagers to work in the city's
summer jobs program in hopes of stemming the shootings.
Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents some of the South Los
Angeles communities hardest hit by the violence, is pressing the City
Council to allocate an additional $3 million for gang violence prevention
and intervention programs.
"We can't ignore a crisis when it is staring us in the face," he said.
One Night, 5 Shootings
1. 9:45 p.m. July 17. Man wounded in drive-by shooting.
2. 11:30 p.m. Two men wounded in drive-by.
3. 12:10 a.m. July 18. Bullet-riddled body of man found in alley.
4. 12:55 a.m. Man shot five times at close range in front of liquor
store.
5. 1:05 a.m. Auto crashes into church after driver is wounded in
car-to-car shooting; Barbara Bullock, 23, is hurt and dies later of
injuries.
Homicides in L.A.
Los Angeles recorded 252 homicides in the first six months of this
year, 30% more than last year but significantly fewer than the
average--366--for the comparable period in the last 10 years. Over the
last decade, annual homicide statistics hit a high in 1992, the year of
the Los Angeles riots, and have dropped since then. Gang-related
homicides are up 131% over last year.
Source: LAPD