Easter Worship Eases Scars of Gang Warfare

THE GOOD people came out and the bad ones stayed home.

As police helicopters circled watchfully over South-Central Los Angeles on Easter morning, gangs took a break from violence and thousands of worshipers attended services peacefully.

The sidewalks filled with congregants promenading to church in brightly colored Easter finery, giving graffiti-pocked neighborhoods a festive air that--at least momentarily--overcame the area’s status as the latest gang war zone.

“No drive-bys,” Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jack Davenport reported Sunday afternoon, referring to the gang practice of shooting from moving cars. “Nothing (else) that I know of.”

Shooting on Street

Friday night, in one of the city’s worst drive-by shooting incidents, two suspected gang members let loose gunfire that killed one man and wounded 12 other people, one of them a 4-year-old boy, at 46th Street and Raymond Avenue.

In reaction, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates vowed Saturday to increase anti-gang sweeps and make sure that churchgoers could feel safe attending Easter services.

A task force of 324 police officers arrested 175 people for investigation of a variety of alleged offenses and interrogated 619 people, about 500 of them believed to be gang members.

Davenport said he asked the morning patrol shift of the 77th Street substation, which covers the area where the shooting occurred, to make themselves more visible near churches Sunday.

“People were told, ‘If you have time, drive by the churches and wave,’ ” he said.

Turf War at Park

Other than circling helicopters, police presence was low-key near churches and the Vermont Square Park, a popular drug sales location. Police have speculated that the Friday shooting, which took place two blocks from the park, stemmed from a turf war between rival gangs over which would sell drugs there.

Kevin Conner, 31, a truck driver for Hughes Aircraft Corp., was one of hundreds attending Easter Mass at St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church in the 5200 block of Western Avenue--a few blocks from the shooting.

“I didn’t think about it,” he said. “It’s Easter Sunday. You think about having a beautiful time.”

Father Paul Banet, pastor of the church, said after the service that the neighborhood gangs conduct drug sales and commit violence off church property.

“They are all around here,” he said, pointing out a nearby home as a rock house and a parishioner whose son was killed last year in gang violence. “But they call this the neutral ground.”

Short-Term Relief

Banet was skeptical that the increased police sweeps would provide more than a temporary respite from gang violence. Several weeks ago, he said, a week of relative calm followed an anti-gang task force sweep.

“We thought, ‘Oh, boy, they have wrapped it up.’ But they then let them all out of jail and it started up again,” he said.

Banet said the church has canceled Bible school in the summer in favor of anti-gang activities that will include tutoring for kids having trouble in school and classes in moral values. “We may not have much influence, but, as people say, it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness,” he said.

Near Vermont Square Park, the Rev. Leonard B. Anderson Sr., pastor of Christ Baptist Church, stopped to pick up a woman and her 1-year-old girl for services.

A week before--on a similar errand in the early evening--”this automatic weapon started firing,” he said.

Memories of Combat

“As an ex-soldier and command sergeant major in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, I was very familiar with the sound of automatic weapons. I was surprised that the mother and child hit the ground like soldiers. They just went for the ground.”

The woman, who was combing her child’s hair while the pastor spoke, said she was afraid to give her name.

“I don’t want them coming around here and messing with me and my children,” she said. “Leave my name out of it. That is the type of neighborhood we live in.”

The park itself was empty except for a man sleeping on the grass and another tossing a football with his two sons.

David Leftwich, 39, interrupted his game of catch for a moment’s reflection on neighborhood security.

“There is danger everywhere. I was raised over here. I am used to it,” he said. “What are you going to do? Hide under your bed?”