Four Shot at Anti-Gang Church Film in Pomona

Four people, including an 11-year-old boy, were wounded in Pomona when a local gang member allegedly opened fire on a crowd of 100 attending a church meeting on alternatives to gang violence, police said Friday.

The shooting occurred Thursday night at Harrison Park, where the crowd was watching an anti-gang movie sponsored by Victory Outreach Ministry, a church group started 20 years ago in Los Angeles to provide alternatives for drug addicts and gang members.

“This is unheard of,” said Sgt. Gary S. Elofson, head of the Pomona Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons division. “It seems like lately nothing is sacred to the gangs. They just don’t care.”

All Pomona Residents

The four victims, all Pomona residents, were identified as Charles Wagner, 37, who was in critical condition, Ralph Parker, 35, listed in fair condition, both at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina; Arthur Saenz, 24, who was treated and released from Pomona Valley Community Hospital, and an unidentified 11-year-old boy, who was treated and released from Queen of the Valley Hospital.

A 16-year-old suspect, identified by police as a Pomona gang member, was arrested in connection with the incident.

The shooting came two months after a gunman opened fire on a crowd of 250 mourners at a Pomona cemetery, injuring four people, including two young girls. A suspect, said to be a gang member, was arrested Friday for that shooting, but police said there was no connection between the two incidents or the gangs.

Watching Movie

The Pomona church was showing the movie, “The Duke of Earl,” on a large garage door of a house adjoining the park. The neighborhood, in north Pomona, is described by police as the territory of the North Side gang, which has 25 or 30 Latino members.

“I think it was just to disrupt and put out a message that no one is welcome in Harrison Park unless he’s a North Side member,” Elofson said. “We won’t stand for that.”

Manuel Cervantez, director of Victory Outreach’s rehabilitation center, said he was shocked.

“There was no warning whatsoever,” said Cervantez, a former gang member. “There was no argument. There was no sign that anything was going to occur.”

He said the mostly teen-age crowd fell to the ground as soon as the shots were fired. None in the audience was believed to be a gang member, police said.