Thread: Another Gateway attack - days after police announce gang cra

Another Gateway attack
Crime: Man shot days after police announce gang crackdown.
By Donna Littlejohn, Staff writer
Article Launched: 01/20/2007 10:34:12 PM PST

Two days after authorities announced a crackdown on gangs, a man was shot in the Harbor Gateway area early Saturday in a chilling attack with similarities to recent shootings believed to be gang-related.

The victim, a black man with no known gang ties, was shot once in the chest by a Latino gunman who opened fire without uttering a word at about 2 a.m. in the 22500 block of Harvard Boulevard, just about a mile and a half south of where 14-year-old Cheryl Green was shot to death. The man survived.

"We believe this shooting involved a gang member, although we're not sure it was a race-based shooting," said South Bureau Chief Charlie Beck, who called it a "cowardly incident."

Beck characterized the attack as unprovoked. The victim is a 34-year-old father who was picking up a friend of his daughter after a birthday celebration, Beck said.

"This was a callous and a brutal crime," he said. There appeared to be no other motivation, such as robbery, he said.

"Gang shootings, unfortunately, occur every day in Los Angeles," Beck said.

The recent activity in the Harbor Gateway area - a narrow strip of neighborhoods linking downtown Los Angeles to the harbor in San Pedro - has put
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residents on edge.

The man's family drove him to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released. Beck said he was very fortunate that he was not killed. The gunman, described as between 25 and 30 years old, fired multiple rounds from a small-caliber handgun, with just one bullet striking the victim in the chest.

"This only redoubles our efforts and our resolve," he said. Officers will be out in force in the area, he said, "for the foreseeable future."

The attack occurred just hours before a community outreach effort designed as part of crackdown on recent gang violence got under way in the neighborhood. In an initiative planned last week, police canvassed neighborhoods all day Saturday, going door to door to talk with residents and pass out the number of a 24-hour tip line.

"We handed out 1,000 fliers regarding the initiatives and just to let the public know what was going on," said LAPD Sgt. Catherine Plows. "The thought is that you saturate an area with patrol cars and you end up creating a sense that the area is safe."

Residents, she said, expressed appreciation for the stepped-up police presence.

Fliers were handed out in the area bordered by Del Amo Boulevard on the north, Torrance Boulevard on the south, Western Avenue on the west and Denker Avenue on the east.

A recent rise in gang violence with an apparent racial component has alarmed residents and authorities alike and last week sparked the announcement of a crackdown on gangs. In the Harbor area in December, two people with no known gang ties were killed in what authorities believe were gang attacks.

Cheryl Green, a black Stephen White Middle School student, was talking with friends on Dec. 15 at 206th Street and Harvard Boulevard, the edge of gang territory considered "off limits" to blacks, when a young Latino man approached and opened fire. Two Latino gang members have been charged with murder and a hate crime in the killing.

Ten days before, a gunman shot Arturo Mercado Ponce as the 34-year-old Latino man stood talking with friends in front of his apartment building on 204th Street. A gunman in a hooded sweat shirt walked up to the men at about 8 p.m. and opened fire, apparently picking them at random, police said.

Ponce was the chef at the Depot restaurant in Torrance. Detectives said the two shootings might be related, though the race of the shooter is unknown in the Ponce case.

In an incident reported Friday morning, workers arrived at a graffiti-scrawled condominium project under construction on West 224th Street in Harbor Gateway, a few blocks from where Saturday's shooting took place, to find that one of the owner's guard dogs had been fatally shot.

Asked if the most recent shooting could have been meant as a message to police in the wake of their recent crackdown on gangs, Beck said, "If it was, it's an extreme mistake on their part."

The shooting occurred in the home turf of the Eastside Torrance gang, but is adjacent to the 204th Street gang, the group believed to be responsible for the Cheryl Green homicide.

According to police, the victim, his daughter, two of his daughter's friends and his fiancee were in his car parked at the curb after picking up one of the girls at the party. The girls are all in their early teens.

The suspect, without provocation, walked up behind the car, gun in hand, police said. When the father stepped out to ask him to leave them alone, the gunman fired several shots and ran away. The shooter, Beck said, "was absolutely silent" and was dressed in dark clothing.

The suspect is described as about 5-foot-9, 170 pounds and between 25 and 30 years old. Police did not release the name or city of residence of the victim to protect him and his family.

Beck dismissed earlier reports of a "gang truce" announced last week by activist Najee Ali.

"People should not think there's a truce or that this problem has gone away," he said.

"Obviously we're very concerned about this, that this could spread to other neighborhoods in the Gateway," Beck said. "So much more has to be done, it's not just a job of law enforcement. I will expend every resource I have to do this, but that's not going to solve it."

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Harbor Area Gang Impact Team at (310) 522-2040. After hours, they should call the 24-hour toll-free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (833-529-3855).

A 24-hour anonymous tip line (English or Spanish) also has been established to report gang activity, call: (310) 548-4181 or (310) 233-4915.

Donna Littlejohn can be reached at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com or (310) 543-6696.

It is time these home grown punk gang bangers are deemed terrorist, and dealt with accordingly. I think it is time to make a good use of Alcatraz once again, it would be a very good place for these vicious punks, round them up and get rid of them, we have enough problems here without these gangs! I can't see any thing salvagable with these punks!

I agree with you Nittygritty. I am sick of it as we have lots of it in Miami-Dade County and Broward County. Gangs have been tried under the RICO act just like the mob. I think that they should get the death penalty as they are involved in murder. If they are illegal it is more reason to do so as they keep coming back if they get extradited.

These gang members do not get the death penalty if they murder people? That's a crock, what are they saving it for?