L.A. sounds worse than Iraq these days.
http://www.sacobserver.com/news/042203/la_homicides.shtml
War on L.A. Streets Continues
By Betty Pleasant | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - While the world is watching the war in Iraq, the war in Los Angeles has reached a feverish pitch, racking up casualties that could rival coalition losses in Baghdad.
Just as Mayor Jim Hahn announced last week that homicides in the city had dropped 20.5 percent compared to this time last year, 15 shootings occurred in the 77th Street Police Division within a two-hour period; nine people were killed by gunfire in less than 24 hours; nine minutes separated the killing of two more the next day; another two were gunned down the day after that; and by April 11, two more people were killed.
That’s just the total dead. The numbers wounded and those who managed to dodge bullets during that week are still being tallied.
In a statement released by his office, the mayor hailed the reduced rate of violence as “great news for Los Angeles.†He said efforts to put more police on the streets and to work in partnership with community leaders is paying off.
“I am confident that under Chief (William) Bratton’s leadership at the LAPD we will continue to see a drop in violent crime,†the mayor said.
So far this year an average of nine people have been killed a week, down from 13 weekly in 2002. Nonfatal shootings, however, have increased, suggesting the decline in homicides may have occurred simply because shooters missed vital organs.
So far this year, LAPD cited 1,444 incidents of shots fired and 577 shooting victims. Ten people died in gang-related violence during the last two weekends alone in March. They included 13-year-old Joseph Arthur Swift, who was killed outside his church March 23 by random shots fired from a passing car, and 14-year-old Marquise Pickens, who was shot and killed minutes later while outside a mini-mall a few miles away.
March was bad, but April came in like a lion. At the 77th Street, one of the busiest and deadliest divisions in the city, Sgt. Peter Casey was close to declaring a tactical alert March 30 when eight people were wounded and one was killed during 15 shootings between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. The homicide was the first shooting.
Suspects stopped 26-year-old Isaiah Cain at Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Avenue. They fired numerous rounds into his chest while his 6-year-old daughter sat next to him. He was transported to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, where he died.
Among the local collateral damage that night was a 69-year-old woman drive-by victim who was shot in the head outside her home in the 400 block of West 74th Street. Amazingly, she survived, as the bullet went through her head and missed her skull.
Another who cheated the homicide statistics is a 30-year-old security guard who was working outside the Honey Love nightclub on West Vernon Avenue. He was shot in the chest with a nine millimeter handgun and is in serious condition at County-USC Medical Center.
Other ignored casualties in the city last week include a 19-year-old bicyclist who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near 97th Street in broad daylight March 30. He died on the spot, as did 33-year-old Kenneth Waller, another man on a bicycle, killed in a drive-by near 5th and Westminster in Venice later that day.
Just before noon March 31, a woman in a stolen Ford Expedition shot and killed 16-year-old Donovan Simmons outside a Shell gas station at Vernon and Western avenues. The youth died in a hospital and investigators did not know the motive for the attack.
At about 6:15 p.m. that day, several men in a van fired shots into a house in the 4800 block of 2nd Avenue, killing 23-year-old Brian Byrd in the front yard and Ty Elliot Wilson, 22, who was inside but was hit by bullets bursting through the walls and windows, witnesses said. Investigators said it was unclear if anyone returned fire, but 32-year-old Damon Burris, believed to be in the van, was shot and bled to death while his friends drove him to the hospital.
In East Los Angeles, 21-year-old Rafael Lujano was killed by a gunman who was spray-painting graffiti in the 800 block of North Alma Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. At least two people died in separate shooting attacks April 1 that occurred nine minutes apart. The first was reported outside 1617 W. 58th St. at 2:18 p.m. and involved two suspects who walked up to a man. Then at 2:27 p.m., a gunman opened fire on two men sitting in a parked car at East 41st Street and Ascot Avenue, killing one and wounding the other. About 8 p.m. Tuesday, two suspected gang members were shot in the 700 block of Camulos Street in Boyle Heights. They will survive.
A man was shot to death and a woman wounded at about 1 a.m. April 4. Deandre Harper, 26, died at a hospital following the attack near 103rd Street and Central Avenue. Close to 9 o’clock that night, a man got out of a 1983 Subaru armed with a shotgun and opened fire, fatally wounding Donald Bonds, who was standing with a group of people in the 400 block of East 107th Street. LAPD gang detail officers were nearby and heard the shots. The officers went to the scene, saw Eddie Hicks, 35, fleeing, ordered him to drop his weapon and arrested him without incident.
Bonds was taken to a hospital, where he died. Hicks is being held on $1.7 million bail. Police believe Bonds was the target of the attack, but a motive for the shooting is unknown.
While patting himself and the police chief on the back for lowering citywide homicides, Hahn has made no comment about this sudden spike in killings, which, paradoxically, occurred just as the U.S. began invading Iraq. The former chief, Councilman Bernard Parks, had scheduled a news conference April 3 to address the spate of killings in the city, but his event was canceled by the LAPD so the department could unveil its new Compstat crime-fighting tool to the ministers in the Black community.
Parks said the sudden increase in violent crime is the result of external factors, which law enforcement cannot control, as well as some deployment changes within the LAPD.
Parks noted that after a steady reduction in crime after the rate peaked in 1992, the largest increase in crime has occurred within the last 14 months. He said this is attributed to, among other things, the city’s increased population, significant growth of its “crime-age†population, the significant downturn of the economy, and an erosion of education and recreation programs.
“The numbers of people out of work and people out of prison in our communities are also high,†Parks said. “About 40 percent of the people paroled throughout the state turn up here in Los Angeles County and they create crime problems.â€
The councilman said the deployment of police to prevent and fight crime is effected by the officers’ three-day and the detectives’ four-day work week schedules and the removal from the streets of 168 senior lead officers and 200 officers who are working on consent decree tasks. (Another 23 officers were added to that total by city council action last week).
In addition, Parks said an estimated 1,000 officers who have some form of medical disability are unable to perform police work and more than 100 officers are on military leave fighting the war in Iraq.
“When you look at all of that happening during the last 14 months, plus the dynamics of economics, there shouldn’t be any surprise that crime is on its way up,†Parks said.
This story comes special to the NNPA from Wave Community Newspapers.
******
California THR members...is L.A. crime really as bad as this article makes it out to be?
I sure hope not!
http://www.sacobserver.com/news/042203/la_homicides.shtml
War on L.A. Streets Continues
By Betty Pleasant | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - While the world is watching the war in Iraq, the war in Los Angeles has reached a feverish pitch, racking up casualties that could rival coalition losses in Baghdad.
Just as Mayor Jim Hahn announced last week that homicides in the city had dropped 20.5 percent compared to this time last year, 15 shootings occurred in the 77th Street Police Division within a two-hour period; nine people were killed by gunfire in less than 24 hours; nine minutes separated the killing of two more the next day; another two were gunned down the day after that; and by April 11, two more people were killed.
That’s just the total dead. The numbers wounded and those who managed to dodge bullets during that week are still being tallied.
In a statement released by his office, the mayor hailed the reduced rate of violence as “great news for Los Angeles.†He said efforts to put more police on the streets and to work in partnership with community leaders is paying off.
“I am confident that under Chief (William) Bratton’s leadership at the LAPD we will continue to see a drop in violent crime,†the mayor said.
So far this year an average of nine people have been killed a week, down from 13 weekly in 2002. Nonfatal shootings, however, have increased, suggesting the decline in homicides may have occurred simply because shooters missed vital organs.
So far this year, LAPD cited 1,444 incidents of shots fired and 577 shooting victims. Ten people died in gang-related violence during the last two weekends alone in March. They included 13-year-old Joseph Arthur Swift, who was killed outside his church March 23 by random shots fired from a passing car, and 14-year-old Marquise Pickens, who was shot and killed minutes later while outside a mini-mall a few miles away.
March was bad, but April came in like a lion. At the 77th Street, one of the busiest and deadliest divisions in the city, Sgt. Peter Casey was close to declaring a tactical alert March 30 when eight people were wounded and one was killed during 15 shootings between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. The homicide was the first shooting.
Suspects stopped 26-year-old Isaiah Cain at Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Avenue. They fired numerous rounds into his chest while his 6-year-old daughter sat next to him. He was transported to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, where he died.
Among the local collateral damage that night was a 69-year-old woman drive-by victim who was shot in the head outside her home in the 400 block of West 74th Street. Amazingly, she survived, as the bullet went through her head and missed her skull.
Another who cheated the homicide statistics is a 30-year-old security guard who was working outside the Honey Love nightclub on West Vernon Avenue. He was shot in the chest with a nine millimeter handgun and is in serious condition at County-USC Medical Center.
Other ignored casualties in the city last week include a 19-year-old bicyclist who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near 97th Street in broad daylight March 30. He died on the spot, as did 33-year-old Kenneth Waller, another man on a bicycle, killed in a drive-by near 5th and Westminster in Venice later that day.
Just before noon March 31, a woman in a stolen Ford Expedition shot and killed 16-year-old Donovan Simmons outside a Shell gas station at Vernon and Western avenues. The youth died in a hospital and investigators did not know the motive for the attack.
At about 6:15 p.m. that day, several men in a van fired shots into a house in the 4800 block of 2nd Avenue, killing 23-year-old Brian Byrd in the front yard and Ty Elliot Wilson, 22, who was inside but was hit by bullets bursting through the walls and windows, witnesses said. Investigators said it was unclear if anyone returned fire, but 32-year-old Damon Burris, believed to be in the van, was shot and bled to death while his friends drove him to the hospital.
In East Los Angeles, 21-year-old Rafael Lujano was killed by a gunman who was spray-painting graffiti in the 800 block of North Alma Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. At least two people died in separate shooting attacks April 1 that occurred nine minutes apart. The first was reported outside 1617 W. 58th St. at 2:18 p.m. and involved two suspects who walked up to a man. Then at 2:27 p.m., a gunman opened fire on two men sitting in a parked car at East 41st Street and Ascot Avenue, killing one and wounding the other. About 8 p.m. Tuesday, two suspected gang members were shot in the 700 block of Camulos Street in Boyle Heights. They will survive.
A man was shot to death and a woman wounded at about 1 a.m. April 4. Deandre Harper, 26, died at a hospital following the attack near 103rd Street and Central Avenue. Close to 9 o’clock that night, a man got out of a 1983 Subaru armed with a shotgun and opened fire, fatally wounding Donald Bonds, who was standing with a group of people in the 400 block of East 107th Street. LAPD gang detail officers were nearby and heard the shots. The officers went to the scene, saw Eddie Hicks, 35, fleeing, ordered him to drop his weapon and arrested him without incident.
Bonds was taken to a hospital, where he died. Hicks is being held on $1.7 million bail. Police believe Bonds was the target of the attack, but a motive for the shooting is unknown.
While patting himself and the police chief on the back for lowering citywide homicides, Hahn has made no comment about this sudden spike in killings, which, paradoxically, occurred just as the U.S. began invading Iraq. The former chief, Councilman Bernard Parks, had scheduled a news conference April 3 to address the spate of killings in the city, but his event was canceled by the LAPD so the department could unveil its new Compstat crime-fighting tool to the ministers in the Black community.
Parks said the sudden increase in violent crime is the result of external factors, which law enforcement cannot control, as well as some deployment changes within the LAPD.
Parks noted that after a steady reduction in crime after the rate peaked in 1992, the largest increase in crime has occurred within the last 14 months. He said this is attributed to, among other things, the city’s increased population, significant growth of its “crime-age†population, the significant downturn of the economy, and an erosion of education and recreation programs.
“The numbers of people out of work and people out of prison in our communities are also high,†Parks said. “About 40 percent of the people paroled throughout the state turn up here in Los Angeles County and they create crime problems.â€
The councilman said the deployment of police to prevent and fight crime is effected by the officers’ three-day and the detectives’ four-day work week schedules and the removal from the streets of 168 senior lead officers and 200 officers who are working on consent decree tasks. (Another 23 officers were added to that total by city council action last week).
In addition, Parks said an estimated 1,000 officers who have some form of medical disability are unable to perform police work and more than 100 officers are on military leave fighting the war in Iraq.
“When you look at all of that happening during the last 14 months, plus the dynamics of economics, there shouldn’t be any surprise that crime is on its way up,†Parks said.
This story comes special to the NNPA from Wave Community Newspapers.
******
California THR members...is L.A. crime really as bad as this article makes it out to be?
I sure hope not!
