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Gang signs are scribbled in paint on street signs and the sides of homes. Steel bars secure most doors and windows. At night, gunfire and sirens are so common that they're little more than background noise.
And yet, life in these neighborhoods — some of the most impoverished in the city — is not unlike life in other areas, residents say. Men wash cars in driveways. Children walk to school and climb playground equipment in their yards. Mothers pay attention to everything. |
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Gangs, guns trouble Modestans Southwest residents on edge after 2 gang-related shootings
By JOEL HOOD
In southwest Modesto, where two teenage boys were injured in shootings Thursday and Sunday, the threat of violence is woven into everyday life. |
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Live among violence long enough, and you learn how to keep it at a distance, they say.
"You're always watching out, but you can't let that get to you," said Kim Ly, whose house on Roselawn Avenue is about a block from where a 14-year-old boy was shot in the arm Sunday night in what police say was a gang-related attack.
"I've seen the area become more violent, more violent between teenagers," said Ly, 36, the mother of four children younger than 9. "I don't see why they have to act that way. They're all of the same blood."
Police released no information Monday about the victim of Sunday night's shooting, explaining that his status as a juvenile precludes giving his name or a report on his injuries, or even saying whether he was treated and released from a hospital.
Sgt. Chris Fuzie said police believe the shooting was gang-related because the victim identified the shooter as a Norteño gang member. There had been no arrests.
The circumstances of the shooting, reported about 8:45 p.m., mirrored those of the Thursday night incident that left a 13-year-old boy with a bullet wound to the neck.
The 13-year-old had been riding in a car with one of his brothers. A man opened fire from a sidewalk in a neighborhood west of Robertson Road. No arrests had been made.
Assistant Police Chief Mike Harden said Monday it was too soon to know whether the two shootings were related.
Gun-related crimes are down
Despite these shootings, gun-related crimes in southwest Modesto are significantly lower this year compared with 2004, Fuzie said. From Jan. 1 to March 21, there were 10 cases ranging from aggravated assault to homicide. In the same period last year, there were 35.
Harden attributed the change, in part, to the development of two street patrol units that aggressively target chronic problem communities and a more focused effort to root out suspected gang members. Gang sweeps in south Modesto and Ceres in January netted 83 arrests.
There is a flip side, though, to the increased police presence. Like the threat of violence, many residents say they are intimidated by the constant patrols in their neighborhoods.
On Kenneth Avenue, about a mile from the shooting near Robertson Road, Cristina Moreno said her four children watch the red lights and police cars through the barred front door of their home. The 24-year-old from Michoacán, Mexico, has to reassure her children that the police have come to protect them.
"They don't really know what to think," Moreno said in Spanish. "I tell them, 'They are the good guys. They're here to help.'"
Resident fears police presence
A girl on Roselawn Avenue, whose mother asked that she not be identified, said she's often scared when she sees police driving by her neighborhood.
"I'm really afraid when I see them," she said. "I see them all the time and I don't know what happened or who they're looking for."
Her mother, who declined to give her name for fear of gang retribution, said she's seen the violence escalate in her neighborhood the last 10 years, particularly among teenagers.
She said she limits how much time her three children spend outside, but said she feels safe in her home. Her biggest concern is steering her children away from violence as they get older, she said.
"You teach them about the dangers about gangs and the downsides," she said in Spanish. "You monitor what they're doing and who their friends are."
Resident: Bay Area is worse
Farther along the road, near Colorado and Garden avenues, a man said the dangers of the neighborhood frequently are exaggerated.
The man, who asked not to be identified, said he moved to Modesto from east Oakland several years ago to escape the violence he had seen growing up. While parts of Modesto are becoming more dangerous, he said, it's a far cry from what he saw in the Bay Area.
"You have youngsters that are trigger-happy, but really this neighborhood is just like any other. You don't have shootings every day," he said. "But anytime you have the police coming around like they do, the place is going to get a bad rap."
Violence becomes part of life
About a mile to the west, 19-year-old Jose Tejeda said he's seen a lot of strange things.
About seven months ago, he said, he was sitting on the front porch of his home at Superior and Ontario avenues, near Robertson Road Elementary School, when he saw a man walking with a handgun.
He said the man fired shots into the air, but was long gone before police arrived. Another time, Tejeda said, police blocked the entry and exit points of the neighborhood to seal off an escaped convict believed to be hiding in the area.
"You deal with it," he said. "You stay inside. A lot of families live here; this isn't a real violent area. But you see things happen once in a while." |