As the suspect in one of Gilroy’s recent incidents of gang
violence gets ready to go before a Superior Court judge in San
Martin today, the Gilroy Police Department is preparing for the
upcoming months of warm summertime weather usually accompanied by
increased gang activity.
GILROY – As the suspect in one of Gilroy’s recent incidents of gang violence gets ready to go before a Superior Court judge in San Martin today, the Gilroy Police Department is preparing for the upcoming months of warm summertime weather usually accompanied by increased gang activity.
And with a recent spike in gang activity throughout the city – which has seen gang violence dramatically decrease nearly every year since 1994 – police are maintaining their aggressive stance against gangs to ensure the violence is kept to a minimum this summer.
“When the weather warms up more people go outside and there is more interaction between everyone,” said GPD Capt. Debbie Moore. “In the last weeks we have seen a little rise (in gang activity), but we will take the necessary measures to keep it under control.”
Since April 25, the GPD has identified gang members as suspects and victims in a near fatal stabbing and beating on East Eight Street, a non-injury “walk-by shooting” into a occupied home on Parish Way and the firebombing of a vehicle parked in the driveway of a Lilly Avenue home.
Only one suspect has been arrested in the three incidents, 20-year-old reputed gang member Gerardo Ortiz Magana, who is scheduled to have his trial date set by a judge at the South County Courthouse today. Magana was arrested almost immediately following an April 25 stabbing and beating on East Eighth Street. He is currently free on $20,000 bail from county jail, and his original charge of attempted murder has been reduced to assault with a deadly weapon.
Police and community members who closely monitor Gilroy’s gang situation say they aren’t aware of any specific event or rivalry that has fueled the recent violence, and they are confident the recent incidents aren’t precursors to a long summer of gang violence.
For now, the GPD is planning to deploy its usual summer influx of mounted patrol units in local parks and popular gathering centers soon, but no additional patrol plans will be put in place until warranted, Moore said.
In Gilroy, the two large gang factions are Norteno and Sureno. Nortenos wear red and are usually at least second generation Mexican Americans, while Surenos wear blue and are usually first generation immigrants who speak Spanish. There are believed to be at least six combined street factions of the two gangs in Gilroy, which often battle amongst each other, according to police.
“I think if ACT (GPD’s 6-member Anti-Crime Team created in the mid-1990s to suppress Gilroy street gangs) keeps doing their job like they have the last few years and keep being aggressive there won’t be a problem,” said City Councilman Roland Velasco, who’s also a member of the city’s Gang Task Force. “It’s not unusual to see a spike here and there, especially with the warm weather coming and the economy down. … I think the programs the city has put in place over the last decade to help the gang problems have really worked and will continue to do so.”
One of those programs Velasco is talking about is the Mexican American Community Service Agency’s (MACSA) gang prevention program for Gilroy youth “at risk” of joining gangs.
Based at the youth center at San Ysidro Park and working with mostly El Portal Charter School students, the program that will graduate its second class in June monitored 84 at risk 10- to 21-year-olds this year.
Brought into the program either by probation officers, parents, teachers or word of mouth, the kids are provided with case mangers who help them with homework, job placement, counseling referral services and promote after school activities and sports.
“The best thing about the program is that it gives these kids something to do and somewhere to belong,” said Juanita Calderon, the program coordinator of MACSA’s gang prevention program. “The reason they join gangs in the first place is that they want to belong to something – we’re giving them another option, with a much better future.”
