This article is about gangs. These young men are legal U.S. citizens according to the article.

3 suspected gang members arrested at Gainesville High

Ferndando Rodriguez



Oscar A. Medrano


Victor M. Turcio

By STEPHEN GURR
The Times

A magistrate judge denied bond Friday for three suspected gang members who walked uninvited into Gainesville High School's cafeteria during lunchtime earlier this week, saying she was "greatly concerned for the safety of the community."

The three teens, dressed in what police said were colors signifying membership in the Sur-13 gang, were not armed when they were stopped by a school resource officer inside the high school about 2 p.m. Tuesday. But a search of their car turned up two knives and a pair of baseball bats, one inscribed with the gang's logo, police said.

Ferndando Rodriguez, 17, Oscar Allen Medrano, 17, and Victor Manuel Turcio, 19, all of Gainesville, face charges of violating Georgia's street gang terrorism act, as well as felony charges of possessing weapons on school property and misdemeanor criminal trespass. None of the teens are students.

"The situation was they came onto school property when they didn't belong there," Assistant District Attorney Kit Devine told Hall County Magistrate Judge Tracy Loggins.

Devine said the three suspects went to the school to confront members of the rival "B.O.E." gang.

"It was a highly volatile and dangerous situation," Devine said.

Gainesville police Investigator Joe Amerling testified that B.O.E. members present in the lunchroom were "throwing (gang) signs" with their hands when they recognized the blue colors of their rivals.

The teens initially told Gainesville police school resource Officer Charles Newman that they walked to the school. Newman found a set of car keys on one of the teens and used the car alarm button to locate the car in a school parking lot, according to testimony. A subsequent search turned up the weapons.

Attorneys for the three defendants argued for bond in the range of $10,000. They noted that the defendants had family in the area, were U.S. citizens and were employed, one working as a landscaper.

But Amerling noted in his testimony that the day the three showed up at the school, "it was a beautiful, sunny day."

"If I was a landscaper, I'd be out working," Amerling said.

Loggins said while she was concerned about the defendants' ages, "what outweighs my concern is the safety of the community, in today's climate."

"I am alarmed that these individuals were in a school with weapons in their vehicle," Loggins said.

Attorneys for the defendants can petition a superior court judge for bond on the charges, but they will remain jailed at least until then.