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Shootings raise fear of gang warfare
http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/NEWS01/804150313/1002/NEWS17
The violence in Salinas is unlikely to stop any time soon, according to some city residents.
This weekend, three shootings left as many people injured - one of them critically - and a firebomb was thrown into an east Salinas apartment complex shown in a threatening video posted online that week. Salinas police said the shootings were gang-related, but don't appear to be connected to each other.
Meanwhile, a drive-by shooting in King City on Sunday night left a 22-year-old man wounded outside a fast-food restaurant, while two men were injured at another drive-by shooting near Watsonville earlier that evening, police said, in what they say appear to be gang-related incidents.
Some Salinas residents disagree with police assessments that the shootings weren't connected, at least loosely. In recent months, according to local gang experts, many gang members from Southern California have moved into the Central Coast region. They intend to take over rival Northern California gang members' territory, experts said, a plan which could lead to more violence.
That has residents who aren't involved in gangs concerned.
On Sunday afternoon in Salinas, a 20-year-old man, his 22-year-old cousin and a third person were on the 700 block of Garner Avenue, when a man pulled a gun and started shooting at them about 7 p.m., police said.
The shooting happened in front of a building that was celebrating a child's birthday party, making the shooting more dangerous to innocent bystanders.
"We were celebrating my son's (10th) birthday party when the shooting happened," said Lilly, who declined to give her last name for fear of retaliation. "It's sad that the shooting happened during my son's party."
That same night, a 25-year-old man showed up at a local hospital about 10 p.m. with a single gunshot wound to the leg. He told officers he and several relatives were outside a house on the 400 block of Victoria Street when two vehicles drove by. The man heard a "pop" and later realized he had been shot, police said.
It's possible he was targeted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as gangs find new ways to mark their territory. For instance, some now post videos online to threatenrival gang members.
On one such video posted April 8 to the Web site YouTube.com, images of several Salinas teenagers are shown with the number 187, the California penal code for murder.
"It is clearly disturbing," said Salinas Cmdr. Kelly McMillin. "But it is just a high-tech version of graffiti. These kinds of things have been going on for years. They are just doing it with technology now."
Defining threats
McMillin said that if police come across a video that appears to have direct threats, they will investigate, but limited staff means more intense threats must be responded to first.
That means that in order for police to get involved, there has to be a direct threat from one individual to another person. After reviewing a video posted last week, he said, police have no evidence of a direct threat of violence.
"We don't have time to sit around and surf YouTube," he said. "Not to say that we are not interested, but we have to prioritize."
But family members of one of the young men featured on the video said police should take those videos seriously.
Steven Perez, who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a March 5 drive-by shooting on the corner of Williams and Bardin roads, appeared on a YouTube video with the number 187 across his chest.
"If I was a police officer, I would take those threats very seriously," said Virginia Chavez, Steven's mother. "I think that if my son got out tomorrow (from jail), they would kill him."
She said most of the teenagers in the video are high school students, and said it was scary to see that the video made references to at least three teenagers who have been killed in Salinas.
'This is a war zone'
McMillin insists no specific threats were made in the video.
But on Friday night, someone threw two Molotov cocktails and fired at least 14 shots into an apartment complex at the 900 block of Acosta Plaza, a block away from an image depicted on the video.
Neighbors say a gang war is taking place in that neighborhood - and that it's far from over.
"I'm afraid for my life and my family," a woman who lives in Acosta Plaza said. She declined to be named for fear of retaliation. "This is a war zone. The people here are getting used to the sound of gunshots."
The apartment had been vacant since it was raided by Salinas police on March 12 on suspicion of gang activity. Neighbors said that even after the raid, young men who belong to the Sureño, or "southern," gang went in and out of the apartment, which is located in Norteño, or "northern," territory.
"We are all victims of this," she said. "And there is no end in sight."
http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/NEWS01/804150313/1002/NEWS17
The violence in Salinas is unlikely to stop any time soon, according to some city residents.
This weekend, three shootings left as many people injured - one of them critically - and a firebomb was thrown into an east Salinas apartment complex shown in a threatening video posted online that week. Salinas police said the shootings were gang-related, but don't appear to be connected to each other.
Meanwhile, a drive-by shooting in King City on Sunday night left a 22-year-old man wounded outside a fast-food restaurant, while two men were injured at another drive-by shooting near Watsonville earlier that evening, police said, in what they say appear to be gang-related incidents.
Some Salinas residents disagree with police assessments that the shootings weren't connected, at least loosely. In recent months, according to local gang experts, many gang members from Southern California have moved into the Central Coast region. They intend to take over rival Northern California gang members' territory, experts said, a plan which could lead to more violence.
That has residents who aren't involved in gangs concerned.
On Sunday afternoon in Salinas, a 20-year-old man, his 22-year-old cousin and a third person were on the 700 block of Garner Avenue, when a man pulled a gun and started shooting at them about 7 p.m., police said.
The shooting happened in front of a building that was celebrating a child's birthday party, making the shooting more dangerous to innocent bystanders.
"We were celebrating my son's (10th) birthday party when the shooting happened," said Lilly, who declined to give her last name for fear of retaliation. "It's sad that the shooting happened during my son's party."
That same night, a 25-year-old man showed up at a local hospital about 10 p.m. with a single gunshot wound to the leg. He told officers he and several relatives were outside a house on the 400 block of Victoria Street when two vehicles drove by. The man heard a "pop" and later realized he had been shot, police said.
It's possible he was targeted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as gangs find new ways to mark their territory. For instance, some now post videos online to threatenrival gang members.
On one such video posted April 8 to the Web site YouTube.com, images of several Salinas teenagers are shown with the number 187, the California penal code for murder.
"It is clearly disturbing," said Salinas Cmdr. Kelly McMillin. "But it is just a high-tech version of graffiti. These kinds of things have been going on for years. They are just doing it with technology now."
Defining threats
McMillin said that if police come across a video that appears to have direct threats, they will investigate, but limited staff means more intense threats must be responded to first.
That means that in order for police to get involved, there has to be a direct threat from one individual to another person. After reviewing a video posted last week, he said, police have no evidence of a direct threat of violence.
"We don't have time to sit around and surf YouTube," he said. "Not to say that we are not interested, but we have to prioritize."
But family members of one of the young men featured on the video said police should take those videos seriously.
Steven Perez, who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a March 5 drive-by shooting on the corner of Williams and Bardin roads, appeared on a YouTube video with the number 187 across his chest.
"If I was a police officer, I would take those threats very seriously," said Virginia Chavez, Steven's mother. "I think that if my son got out tomorrow (from jail), they would kill him."
She said most of the teenagers in the video are high school students, and said it was scary to see that the video made references to at least three teenagers who have been killed in Salinas.
'This is a war zone'
McMillin insists no specific threats were made in the video.
But on Friday night, someone threw two Molotov cocktails and fired at least 14 shots into an apartment complex at the 900 block of Acosta Plaza, a block away from an image depicted on the video.
Neighbors say a gang war is taking place in that neighborhood - and that it's far from over.
"I'm afraid for my life and my family," a woman who lives in Acosta Plaza said. She declined to be named for fear of retaliation. "This is a war zone. The people here are getting used to the sound of gunshots."
The apartment had been vacant since it was raided by Salinas police on March 12 on suspicion of gang activity. Neighbors said that even after the raid, young men who belong to the Sureño, or "southern," gang went in and out of the apartment, which is located in Norteño, or "northern," territory.
"We are all victims of this," she said. "And there is no end in sight."
check this out they even put a pic of casper loc wit a 187 on his chest
http://www.ksbw.com/video/15863538/
http://www.ksbw.com/video/15863538/
Shit is getting thick in the central coast.. a couple months ago a homeboy in watson walked up to a car full of surenos wearing that L.A. gear and tryin to act hard and he straight up murdered one of them shooting him in the face after warning him he was in enemy territory.. he got arrested and didn't really give a fuck. Homeboys in salinas are doing their thang too but it's worse out there. Everybody has a gun out there. Mudafuckas just don't know how to act.... i remember when funk was handled with the fists, not bullets.