L.A. Gang Epidemic

The numbers say it all. More than 2,700 people have been killed by gang members in the 1980s in L.A. County and 15,000 more have been seriously injured. It seems that no matter what we do to prevent gang violence, the number of killings per year continues to increase. So many innocent people are needlessly killed or seriously injured because of gang violence, because they happen to be at “the wrong place at the wrong time.”

What, then, is the right place at the right time? I’m often afraid to walk down a busy street, or anywhere else for that matter, for fear of being shot in the cross fire of two rival gangs. Nowadays, you never really know what might happen and when. I feel for those who live their lives in fear because I can empathize, but we shouldn’t be made to live that way.

I’m happy to know that several new programs have been created to protect “at-risk” children, strengthen gang-prevention programs, etc., but I also realize that these programs cost a lot of money, which we don’t have a lot of.

GINA NAPENAS

Los Angeles