Rewards May Spur Probe of Gang Shooting in Westwood

Westwood Village merchants and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky announced separate efforts Tuesday to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of a 27-year-old woman struck down by suspected gang gunfire Saturday night in the bustling shopping and movie district.

Karen Toshima of Long Beach was strolling with a friend along crowded Broxton Avenue when one gang opened fire on a rival gang, fatally wounding Miss Toshima in the head.

The Westwood Village Merchants Assn., representing 115 businesses, announced that it has collected more than $10,000 as a reward.

Yaroslavsky, who represents the neighborhood, introduced a City Council motion urging the posting of a $25,000 reward. The council is expected to consider the proposal Friday.

Councilmen’s Concerns

But Yaroslavsky’s proposal--along with plans for a tripling of police patrols in Westwood--provoked two other councilmen to question whether the city is assigning a higher priority to violent crimes in affluent neighborhoods than to similar crimes in poor and minority neighborhoods.

Councilman Nate Holden, while supporting Yaroslavsky’s motion, said he would amend it to ask that rewards be offered for all gang-related killings.

“People are just as angry in South-Central as they are in Westwood,” Holden said. Citing police statistics, Holden said 205 people in Los Angeles died in 1987 as the result of gang violence, mostly in the South-Central and Eastside neighborhoods.

“These killings have not been highlighted, unfortunately, by the media,” Holden said.

Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of the council’s Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee, raised questions about the Police Department’s decision to increase the Westwood Village patrol from six officers to 20 officers after the shooting.

Shooting ‘Left and Right’

“They’re shooting people left and right in my district and in South-Central, and they’re not tripling the police there,” Alatorre said. “They’re certainly not taking them out of my district.”

Yaroslavsky defended the police actions, stressing that special task forces are a high-profile police tactic used throughout the city. The councilman suggested that such an effort is justified in Westwood Village because it is a “regional entertainment center” that attracts thousands of visitors each weekend.

Protecting the image of Westwood Village was one of the reasons that the merchants association initiated its reward fund.

“This shows that we are not going to tolerate gang violence and that the village will continue to be a haven for people looking for a nice, safe place to go,” said Scott Regberg, a director of the merchants group.

The reward fund started in an “impromptu manner” after a press conference held Monday near where Miss Toshima was shot, Regberg said. Nearly $5,000 was collected in less than half an hour, he added.

Reasons for Fund

Fehl Starkman, owner of the Olde World Restaurant in the village, said he donated “a sizable amount” of money to the reward fund for two reasons.

“First of all, if I were that young woman’s parent or relative, I would want to see her killers brought to justice,” Starkman said. “And secondly, we’re a business, but we aren’t going to be if there are people afraid to come down here. We’ve got to show these people and anyone else who is thinking of doing the same thing that they will be caught.”

Lt. Gabe Ornelas, commanding officer of the LAPD’s West Bureau anti-gang unit, welcomed the reward efforts.

“It can’t hurt,” Ornelas said. “It’s worked before and we’ve got some people who find money very attractive out there and love to snitch on each other.”

Ornelas said that gang activity in Westwood is increasing, noting that several merchants have reported “undesirables” bothering customers. Regberg, however, said reports of gang members intimidating shoppers are “highly exaggerated.”

Initiative Issue

The slaying of Miss Toshima has also revived talk of an initiative campaign to increase the size of the Police Department.

West Los Angeles Chamber President Dori Pye said that obtaining more police is “imperative.” She said the chamber plans to spearhead a campaign to put an initiative on the November ballot that would increase the size of the LAPD. Details of the plan were sketchy at this point, she said.

Since 1985, two such initiatives have failed. Another plan to raise garbage fees to pay for more police was never implemented.