Know Santa Ana quite well, it's been in decline for decades.
Many comments left after this article.
~~
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Gang killings take young lives in Santa Ana

More than half of last year's gang homicides were in Santa Ana, but gang activity is up elsewhere in O.C., authorities say.
By DENISSE SALAZAR
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


SANTA ANA – Memorials continue to pop up throughout Santa Ana - a constant reminder of the young lives lost to gang violence.

The makeshift shrines with flowers, candles, handwritten messages and stuffed animals mark the spots where gang rivalries, "hit-ups" and disputes ended in death.

Clemencia Prado lives with her daughter and two grandsons near Camile Street, where nearby alleys are covered in graffiti and the sound of gunfire is not uncommon. "It's not like last year," Prado, 53, says in Spanish. "We feel safer and at night we see more patrol cars. I hope it continues this way."

In 2006, the number of gang-related deaths in Santa Ana hit 18, a six-year high. In 2007, police reported 16 gang homicides. So far this year, there have been four.

While more than half of the county's 32 gang homicides last year happened in Santa Ana, authorities are tracking an increase in gang activity throughout Orange County – everything from graffiti to assaults.


After the 2006 jump in gang violence, the Santa Ana City Council and the Police Department formed an anti-gang commission, increased the number of gang-suppression detectives from six to 15, funded a police athletic league for youth, expanded its summer camp and started a $1 million gang reward program.

But despite the attempts to curb gang violence, some say, it still hits too close to home.

FLEEING THE VIOLENCE

Raquel Salazar, 40, recalls a gang-related shooting in front of her apartment last year: "I was cooking and ran out after I heard the shots. My daughter called the police."

Two of Salazar's four daughters say they have moved away because of the violence in the area and are trying to convince their mother to move.

"Everyone here is either in a gang or has a family member in a gang," says Erika Salazar, 22. "I moved because I have two kids."

Irma Salazar, 20, says she didn't want to raise her two children in a violent environment.

"Since I was a little girl it's been bad. … I don't think it's going to change," she says. "Some of us want an opportunity to do better."

The 20-year-old mother says she sees kids as young as 11 associating with gang members. The consequences are often deadly.

In December 2006, Angel Secundino was fatally shot, his friend Gabriel Perez, 14, was also killed, and a third boy was seriously injured.

A year after his son's death, Hugo Secundino, 32, still wonders what went wrong.

"I ask 'why, why?' " he says. "It wasn't expected and it's a desperate feeling as a parent because I miss him."

Secundino says his son started hanging out with his older cousins, who are gang members.

"I looked for him and they would hide him from me," Secundino says. "I talked to my son a lot that being in the streets wasn't going to get him anywhere."

But at 14, Angel Secundino had dropped out of school. According to his father, he was hanging out in the streets and living with his 17-year-old girlfriend. And he died without knowing she was pregnant with his child.

Secundino says he fell into a deep depression after his son's death.

"No one is perfect, but I'm working on improving my relationship with my kids," he says. "What I couldn't do for (Angel) I want to do for my son, daughter and granddaughter."

Secundino has moved out of the neighborhood where his son was gunned down.

COUNTYWIDE, 306 GANGS

According to the District Attorney's Office, Orange County has 306 gangs, mostly Hispanic, with 92 of them in 350,000-resident Santa Ana. Other hubs for gangs are Garden Grove, Fullerton and Costa Mesa, authorities say.

Experts say about 80 percent of kids in gang-infested areas don't join. But many do.

"A lot of gang members are attracted by the money and power," says Fernando Orozco, a crisis counselor for Community Service Programs Inc. "It's very hard not to (join) when that's all you see around you. If they weren't in the gang they wouldn't feel like they have control or status. Some of them come from broken families and this gives them a sense of belonging to something."

Orozco provides emotional support to the victim's family in gang-related homicides.

"We give the family crisis intervention, referrals to community agencies and work as a liaison between them and the District Attorney's Office and the police department from the night of the homicide to the court proceedings," Orozco says.

Five of the 16 killed in gang attacks in 2007 were teenagers. So far this year, all four victims have been in their teens. In 2006, 11 of the 18 killed were teens.

"Gangs are always going to be a thing of the youth," says Santa Ana police Sgt. Jon Centanni, who has been supervising gang homicides and assaults for six years.

Centanni says gang involvement typically takes hold around middle-school age. He says it's important to offer young people programs that will steer them away from gangs.

Santa Ana anti-gang officers say they are taking steps to prevent gang violence from reaching the levels of the 1990s. The city's highest number of gang homicides – 46 – was in 1995.

Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo says his anti-gang team is going after everything from possession of narcotics, weapons violations, stolen vehicles and parole violations.

"We have to keep abreast of what the trends are, keep abreast of who is active, who is out, who is new and maintain our information flowing because that's the difference to solving cases," Carrillo says.

When Santa Ana started started enforcing court-ordered gang injunctions in 2006, crime dropped by half in neighborhoods where gang interaction was curtailed.

In January, two gang injunctions in South County became permanent and the District Attorney's office says more injunctions are planned.

Centanni and Carrillo expect gang homicides to drop in the coming years. "It takes time to develop detectives, to develop expertise, to develop the relationship between the detective and the gang members," Carrillo says.

www.ocregister.com