Detectives Arrest Two in Triple Gang Shooting

Los Angeles: Detectives arrested two teen-aged gang members this morning following a drive-by shooting last night in which three other young men were shot.

Detectives and gang officers from Mission Area worked through the night to identify the suspects and track them down. Detectives served search warrants this morning and arrested two. The white van, used in the shooting, and its driver are still at large.

"Today’s arrest shows the value and effectiveness of gang officers," said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, who oversees San Fernando Valley police operations. "These officers and detectives keep their finger on the pulse of what’s going on among gangs. That intelligence helps them know the players and solve the crimes when they happen."

The suspected shooter is 15 years old and an accomplice is 14 years old. Both are local Hispanic gang members from the North Hills area.

The shooting occurred yesterday evening, November 7, 2006, when as many as four suspects in a white van shot into a group of four other youths, who were gathered in front of one boy’s residence in the 9400 block of Orion Avenue. Three of the boys were struck. A 12-year-old was hit in the groin and flown to Children’s Hospital for treatment. A 14 year old was struck in the legs, and a 16 year old was grazed in the stomach. All three are expected to survive their wounds.

Detectives believe the victims were members of a local tagger crew, but they were not engaged in tagging at the time.

While gang crime in the San Fernando Valley represents less than one-fifth the gang crimes in the City, gang-related crimes have showed a marked increase by about one-third this year.

"We’re concerned about the rise in gang crime in the Valley," said Deputy Chief Moore. "One way to address it is to re-deploy more gang officers into the effected area, but we have to be considerate that other parts of the city have much more gang crime."

The South and Central police bureaus, about one-quarter of the City’s geography and population, account for nearly three-quarters of all gang crime.