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Gang member's fate pleases L.B.
officials Crime: Conviction of Crip
Andre Copeland comes on heels of latest violence. LONG BEACH .Oct. 22, 3003- As Long Beach police
continued to hunt for the man who gunned Copeland, 19, was found guilty of two counts of murder, six counts of
attempted murder and five counts of assault with a firearm Tuesday in
connection with five shootings between May and July 2002. A prosecutor called
Copeland "Public Enemy No. 1 in Long Beach' and, earlier this year, a Long
Beach judge equated him to a serial killer. "He was responsible for a lot,' Long Beach Police Detective Bob
Erickson said Wednesday. "Had he not been arrested and taken off the
streets, I don't think what he was doing would have stopped. Between then and
now, who knows what would have happened?' Certainly, Copeland's arrest and conviction were bright spots in the LBPD's
ongoing battle against local gangs. Last summer saw a spate of gang-related
shootings, assaults and murders, primarily in the north and central areas of
Long Beach. But the violence continues. Early Sunday morning, Marine Cpl. Sok Khak Ung
and his friend Vouthy Tho were shot to death as they attended a barbecue near
Seventh Street and Orange Avenue in Central Long Beach. Ung had recently returned
from the war in Iraq, where he was injured and awarded the Purple Heart. Neither man was involved in gangs, but the barbecue at Ung's family's home
was in the middle of Hispanic gang territory, and police suspect a gang member
may be responsible. Similarly, Copeland's murder victims Luciano Ramirez and Paul Griego Jr.
were simply at the wrong places at the wrong times, authorities said. Ramirez,
18, was attending a Lakewood High School graduation party May 31, 2002, in the
5800 block of Orange Avenue when Copeland opened fire on him and four of his
friends. Griego, 17, was buying a used car in the 6000 block of Cherry Avenue
July 6, 2002, when Copeland shot him and the car's owner. Coincidentally, Griego and Copeland both Long Beach residents shared the
same birthday: July 19, 1984. Copeland, a member of a Crips gang, chose many of his targets based on their
skin color, Deputy District Attorney Ken Lynch said. Most of Copeland's victims
were Hispanic, Lynch said, and Crips gangs notoriously oppose Hispanic gangs. The last of Copeland's shooting victims Misael Espinoza was shot in the head
in the 200 block of Norton Street while walking on the sidewalk. Espinoza lost
an eye in the attack, and his head was left deformed, Lynch said, but he lived
to identify his attacker in court. Copeland was 17 when he was arrested. He was tried as an adult, however, and
now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole when he is
sentenced Nov. 13 by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Charles Shel
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Andre
Copeland down a Marine corporal and his friend over the weekend, authorities on
Wednesday quietly celebrated the conviction of Andre Copeland, a gang member
responsible for two murders and a string of shootings in North Long Beach last
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