The Good Die Young

Anthony Jerome Gardner was among the best and the brightest in his neighborhood of small houses and well-manicured lawns just east of Inglewood. He was an Explorer Scout, a volunteer at a sheriff’s station in Carson, a good student who graduated from University High School with a 3.7 grade-point average and a choir member at his father’s church. He shunned gangs and drugs, but he could not escape the violence. He was killed near his home Monday in a drive-by shooting.

Gang violence killed 3,000 people, mostly young, during the 1980s, according to police estimates. Another 15,000 were injured in gang violence. Drive-by shootings now happen nearly every day.

The level of sophistication and violence among gangs is rising dramatically, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Some street gangs use standard business practices--computers, fax machines and car phones--as they carry out lucrative drug deals. They are quick to punish, and even assassinate, informers and competitors.

Was Gardner assassinated for alerting the authorities about gang activity--behavior that marked him as a snitch? Sheriff’s deputies say they have no evidence indicating that the 19-year-old was a marked man. He “just happened to get in the way” of a burst a gunfire while talking with friends near his home, according to one detective.

Anthony Gardner wanted to make a difference. He wanted to become a deputy, and was scheduled to attend the Sheriff Department’s training academy starting in November. He was not locked into the cycle of crime, violence and easy money that can make gang life look so tempting. But neither could he escape it.