Fear of more gang violence and hope for a safer city have
rallied community activists and former gang members to hold a peace
march next week amid a flurry of other reactions.
Fear of more gang violence and hope for a safer city have rallied community activists and former gang members to hold a peace march next week.
This comes after a week of gang-related bloodshed, during which an 18-year-old was gunned down on the sidewalk in broad daylight and a drive-by shooting jolted residents just days later. The peace march has emerged as one action amidst a flurry of activity.
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Police Chief Denise Turner will also talk about the rapid increase in violent crime. Councilman Craig Gartman requested she do so Wednesday, hours before a fight marred the end of Larry Martinez’s candle-lit vigil. Police showed up too late to apprehend any of the suspects, but having officers at every gathering would take away from other services residents expect from the police, and the department has no intention of telling mourners they can’t gather, Sgt. Chad Gallicinao said.
“Tensions are high and people are still in shock,” Gallicinao said. “We can’t dedicate officers just to (gatherers) because we have other services to offer the community, and everybody has their constitutional right of freedom of assembly … It’s a very fine balance where we find ourselves in.”
To help restore Gilroy’s balance, police have stepped up their street presence (and overtime) to deter further violence, but the 15 people who came up with the march idea did so without the police. They met at El Portal Charter School Thursday night, which sits on IOOF Avenue in north Gilroy a block away from where the drive-by shooting occurred earlier that afternoon. Police arrested the three suspects a few hours later, but the sound of gun shots horrified residents left spinning from Martinez’s death two days earlier.
“We need to get out in front of all this violence. We need to remind these kids that the community groups offer services,” said one person who attended the meeting but declined to give his name, like others, for fear of retribution.
“We don’t want to send an anti-gang message, or any kind of anti- message, but one of hope,” the man said of the planned march Thursday that will begin at St. Mary’s Church at the corner of Church and First streets. Activists will also hand out flyers beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday near the charter school. A time has not been determined for the march, but everyone hopes they can remind at-risk teens and troubled youth to avoid gang lifestyles.
“Basically the devil has them all twisted up,” said one former gang member who began working at Victory Outreach in January after he said he found Jesus Christ and realized his drug-filled life had hit rock bottom.
“God is the answer. Jesus Christ. Love,” the 22-year-old said. He had been in a gang since he was 14, but he said now he serves the Lord instead of being used to do evil. “There is hope, definitely,” he said.
While police have not been involved in the grassroots community effort, Sgt. Chad Gallicinao said the department stands ready to help in any way.
“I wish we would also be included so we could help them make right choices as far as planning, logistics and safety measures,” Gallicinao said. “We know we can get so much further as a community by working together, but sometimes people view the police negatively.”
Perceptions aside, city council members also feel the need to take action.
“I think this is a time-bomb that must be defused ASAP. We, as a council must take action as soon as possible,” Councilman Craig Gartman wrote to Mayor Al Pinheiro and City Administrator Tom Haglund Friday, two days after his initial request, the vigil fight and the drive-by.
At Monday night’s meeting, Councilman Peter Arellano will likely update the council on the community groups’ efforts, as he has deep ties with Voz de la Gente, one of the community groups that met at El Portal along with the Mexican American Community Services Agency, the Impalas Car Club, Victory Outreach and a Glen View neighborhood alliance with ties to Rebekah Children’s Services.
Former gang members and the family members of Larry Martinez also attended the meeting, during which people surmised that all this tit-for-tat violence is likely coming from high-ranking gang members behind bars in San Jose who give direction to the recruits and younger members.
“A march showing the community is against violence is a big thing that needs to be said,” Arellano said. “Some of these kids are getting younger and younger, and we’re losing the recruitment battle. We need to start getting these kids at 5, 8, 10, 12.”
Adding more youth programs is also something the council should consider, Arellano said.
The former gang member at Victory Outreach agreed, saying that growing up without a father and having hardly any community programs to turn to led him to fall victim to his surroundings: drugs, violence and the glorification of such things in popular culture.
The community groups recognize this pattern, too, and want to generate ideas for how area nonprofits can help parents prevent their children from falling into the streets. When it becomes too late, though, those children often break the law, end up in jail and then deal with probation officers who keep tabs on them.
Earlier this year police reconstituted the so-called “Lucky 7” so patrol cops, detectives and probation officers can work together to discourage, reform or catch known offenders. The revolving roster of gang members, vandals, burglars, parolees, repeat offender and fugitives reinforces seven certain faces and names for officers to remember while patrolling.
“Aside from high visibility enforcement, we’re looking at updating the Lucky 7 program to reflect the needs of investigations,” Gallicinao said, adding that although none of the three suspects arrested Thursday in connection with the drive-by shooting were on the Lucky 7 list, but police did arrest a known gang member earlier this week who was on the list.
Next week the department will likely hear from the community groups who met Thursday, according to those who attended the meeting, and both sides seem prepared to restore Gilroy’s quiet, small-town feel.
“We all want the same result,” Gallicinao said.
