So far this week has been quiet
– just a gang-related fist fight in north Gilroy – hardly
anything compared to the tit-for-tat violence last week that jolted
residents and pushed them to plead for peace.
So far this week has been quiet – just a gang-related fist fight in north Gilroy – hardly anything compared to the tit-for-tat violence last week that jolted residents and pushed them to plead for peace.
Increased police patrols, cooperation with other law agencies, concern from the City Council and community groups, and former gang members coming together to organize a peace march Sunday have helped quiet the city since Larry Martinez Jr., 18, was gunned down in broad daylight Nov. 11. Police are still searching for the three suspects in the gang-related incident and are uncertain whether the attackers reside in Gilroy, according to Sgt. Jim Gillio.
“We have received several community tips, but there is no major progress to report other than that we have served search warrants in relation to the crime,” Gillio said.
During Martinez’s funeral Wednesday, officers in unmarked cars in the area cited several parolees and residents on probation for, among other things, associating with known gang members, carrying weapons and wearing certain colors in violation of their release terms, Gillio said.
The funeral passed without incident, but the death of the known Norteño gang member – whose family said he was set to turn his life around – spurred last week’s drive-by shooting. Police estimate about 600 Norteño gang members live in Gilroy – versus about 150 on the Sureño side – and police track 63 registrants regularly. Three hours after the non-fatal drive-by Nov. 13, officers arrested three suspected Norteño members. The Santa Clara County District Attorney has since dropped charges against one due to lack of evidence, according to court records.
Police are also still searching for the unknown assailants who fired a shotgun at a family’s garage in south Gilroy Sunday night, but they said that incident did not appear gang-related as the family has no criminal ties.
The only gang-related incident police reported this week involved an unknown suspect attacking a juvenile male outside a school-sponsored event at South Valley Middle School just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to police. During the fist fight, the suspect made statements associated with gangs, according to Sgt. Gillio.
“We recognize that increased community vigilance and increased education and enforcement efforts, as well as community meetings sponsored by the city and community groups, have most likely contributed to this decrease in gang activity,” Gillio said.
Before Thursday night’s town hall meeting to discuss the city’s gang problems, more than 180 people, including residents, Martinez’s relatives and representatives from community groups, gathered at El Portal Middle School, just a block away from where drive-by occurred and next door to South Valley Middle School. They discussed Sunday’s march and the larger social issues debilitating Gilroy’s youth.
“We as parents need to teach our children to respect our homes,” resident Luciana Fuentes said. “We need to make the effort to fight for our children.”
City councilman Peter Arellano started off the bilingual meeting, held in a gymnasium, by addressing the crowd.
“We aren’t here to tell the community what it needs, but to hear from you what the community needs,” he said, first in English, then in Spanish.
Beyond the two rows of seats, full with a diverse but primarily Hispanic crowd, were three tables set up to distribute resources on career-building and volunteering programs. Gilroy High School manned one of these booths.
Art Barron, a meeting organizer and program coordinator at Projecto Movimiento – a program run in connection with the Mexican-American Community Services Organization and the YMCA – spoke to concerns that the meeting, just one hour before the city’s meeting, was meant as a slight.
“We’re not trying to divide the community” he said. “What we want is for the community to come together and we are encouraging people to go to the city’s town hall meeting after this.”
The outcome of the meeting was not available by press time, but the gym was set up so that after the main address the crowd could break into small groups at stations with easels. Meeting organizers said the small groups could allow people who were scared of speaking in front of large groups to voice their opinion.
Also concerned with connecting Gilroy, Chief Denise Turner will walk with the crowd in Sunday’s march. Police will also patrol it.
Officers continue to work overtime to beef up their street presence and have been corresponding with colleagues in Morgan Hill, with the California Highway Patrol and with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office to combat the local gang problem, which has increased 36 percent compared to last year, according to statistics that track gang-related homicides, assaults, weapons violations, robberies and other crimes.
“The information-sharing is going really well,” Gillio said of the agencies’ cooperation. “What we’re working on now is the grouping of personnel so we can maximize our efforts and combine and fight this gang problem together.”
