When April Chacon kisses her children goodbye and sends them off
to school, she worries she may never see them again.
When April Chacon kisses her children goodbye and sends them off to school, she worries she may never see them again.
Chacon lives on West Ninth Street, only blocks away from the scene of a drive by shooting that occurred April 1. That evening, a group of young men were standing near West Eighth and Rosanna streets when several people drove up in a truck and fired several rounds at the pedestrians. Three men were shot. Police believe the crime to be gang related.
Only two weeks later, three unknown men armed with a shotgun forced their way into a residence on the 7700 block of Rosanna Street, and beat a 21-year-old male with a club.
“There it goes, the same street,” Chacon said. “Another incident on a street that has been red hot with violence lately. The residents need protection. They are not safe in their own homes.”
Chacon described a neighborhood that is rife with gang activity and violence. Her son has come home on more than one occasion sporting bruises and cuts from neighborhood violence. Her windows were smashed on Christmas Eve. At this point, she’s ready to move out of Gilroy – it’s not worth risking the lives of her six children, she said.
“The neighborhood is getting to the point where I don’t feel comfortable with my kids going outside,” she said. “Something needs to be done and we need the community’s help. Otherwise the next hit will most likely be an innocent bystander.”
A few blocks over on Carmel Street, neighbors who wished to remain anonymous said the sound of gunshots are not uncommon.
“Judging by the gunfire I hear at night, yes, crime is up,” the Carmel Street resident said. “People think they hear fireworks when, really, it’s gunshots.”
Despite recent occurrences of gang activity in certain pockets of Gilroy that have put residents on the alert, Sgt. Chad Gallacinao reported a steady stream of gang-related crimes.
“I think gang activity is remaining consistent,” he said. “There hasn’t been a huge influx of violent cases.”
As head of the Gilroy Police Department’s Anti-Crime Team, he mans a seven-member team that investigates gangs, graffiti and narcotics. The ACT was formed in 1992 in response to increasing gang violence.
“There were a lot of drive bys, a lot of gang activity back then,” Gallacinao said. Since then, gang-related crime has “drastically decreased,” he said. “Obviously, we still have a gang problem, but not at the level of cities around us.” Although he wouldn’t offer specifics, he said he expects to close the drive-by shooting case with a “positive outcome.”
After multiple attempts to obtain statistics during the past three weeks, GPD was unable to provide The Dispatch with information regarding the prevalence of gang-related crimes this year compared to last year by press time. While the department flags gang-related crimes, they are primarily classified by type (e.g. homicide, rape, assault) rather than whether or not they are gang-related, police said. However, anecdotal information points to a steady stream of gang activity occurring in both Gilroy and the greater Silicon Valley region and a need for proactive intervention.
Angel Rios, deputy director of parks and recreation for San Jose, lives in Gilroy and was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program. He said that gang-related crimes are spiking across the board. As a member of CalGRIP, he works to not only suppress, but prevent gang activity.
“Young people need more alternatives,” he said. “They should be enjoying their childhood instead of resorting to gangs.”
Kids join gangs for a number of reasons – lack of recreational activities and role models and a need to fit in and feel needed, Rios said.
“There are some very basic needs all children and youth have,” Rios said. “They want to know they’re good at something, want to be accepted, want to be loved. If you really look at it, the disintegration of the family unit across the board and the absence of a caring adult speak to the crux of the issue. We have to use some basic common sense and start reinstituting those elements back into their lives. Those voids get filled by gang recruiters and negative influences.”
Romanticizing the gang culture also adds to the problem, Rios said. When the “cool guy” is usually the bad guy in movies, it’s hard to counter the overglorification of the “thug life,” he said.
“What used to be a fist fight now involves guns and knives though,” he said. “In video games and movies, the guy gets up and cleans himself off. In real life, that guy is dead. The other is serving a life sentence.”
April Chacon fears for her children’s safety and said the police aren’t doing their part to protect Gilroy’s citizens. “One day I will pay for a funeral for one of my children because nobody is stopping them (gang members) from harming the rest of us in the community,” she said.
But Rios said the entire community is responsible for keeping their neighborhoods gang-free.
“Everyone has a role – the church, schools, parents, a guardian – it’s a community issue that requires a community response,” he said.
