Thread: Shootings up in Aurora ,gang violence

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Shootings up in Aurora
Police cite rivalry of gangs in spike of gun violence
By Rhianna Wisniewski
Special to the Tribune

March 27, 2007

Recent troubles between two rival gangs in Aurora are being blamed for an increase in shootings in the city, leaving police wondering what to do next.

Since Jan. 1, Aurora has had 32 reported shootings, nearly triple the 11 it had at this time last year, according to a police spokesman. Four shootings this year have been fatal, surpassing the three in all of 2006.

"Quite frankly, we're doing all we can," said Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli. "We're very concerned about the rise in gang activity. Gang activity and gang crimes are always the highest priority among patrol officers."

Aurora has stepped up patrols on the city's near east and near west sides, areas where the violence is most prevalent, but "we can't have a police officer on every corner, even if we wanted to," Ferrelli said.

Police are calling for community and activist groups to intervene.

More than 60 people gathered recently for a CeaseFire peace rally at the Warehouse Church on the east side.

The increase in shootings comes after a decade of decline and just months after city officials boasted of a steep drop last year. The city once saw 250 shootings a year, but that dropped to 124 in 2005 and 106 in 2006, Ferrelli said.

"We're on track now to meet the number of shootings from 2005," Ferrelli said.

The shootings hit too close to home for Cheryl Maraffio, an Aurora resident who lost her son, Lou Sacckette, to a drive-by shooting in 2000.

"It's truly unconscionable for wanting to take another person's life," Maraffio said at the peace rally. She urged rally participants to take to the streets to stop the violence.

Carlos Escalante, a gang member for more than 21 years, spoke at the rally. He has been imprisoned twice on felony drug charges and will return to serve a 7-year term for drug charges next month.

"There are a lot of kids losing their lives," Escalante said. "In Chicago they fight for drugs. In Aurora it's not like that -- it's pure hatred, a kill-as-many-as-you-can mentality."

Escalante called for teachers, parents and community members to talk to kids about gangs, particularly at the grade-school level.

"I made the choice at 14 [to join a gang], and I don't regret doing what I did because it was done out of fear. I had no one to go to," he said.

City officials are partnering with local organizations and churches to establish after-school and mentoring programs for youth living in Aurora's low-income housing. And Ald. Juany Garza, a member of the Latino Engagement Community Council, wants to try a program that could provide job skills and computer access to kids.

The Digital Workforce Education Society is a Chicago-based non-profit agency that runs an industrial-scale computer and electronics recycling and refurbishing program. Aurora teens would garner job skills after school through recycling computer parts to create working machines.

Garza will be meet April 3 with the group president and Ald. Scheketa Hart-Burns in an effort to bring a pilot program in Aurora.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

leaving police wondering what to do next.

Forget activists and community groups! Get the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms involved. My take is that there are plenty of stolen weapons being used by our little gang-bangers in Aurora! Once the ATF swoops in, it will be a different party altogether---give it a try---nothing to lose!