New Year’s Gunfire Reduced : Shootings: L.A.’s police chief credits neighborhood witnesses and felony prosecution threats for the decrease.

Surrounded by more than 100 guns confiscated over the holiday weekend, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates on Tuesday credited threats of felony prosecution and a campaign urging citizens to report neighbors seen shooting skyward with a dramatic reduction in random gunfire on New Year’s Eve.

At a news conference, Gates said police arrested 66 people and seized 124 guns of all descriptions “capable of snuffing out someone’s life whether you shoot directly at them or into the air.”

“Because of a lot of work of Neighborhood Watch programs and good citizens, and very fine police work,” the chief said, “we have reduced what has been a very, very serious problem--not to the extent we want to reduce it, but to a point where we feel we have had some success and an impact.”

While arrests were higher than ever, the number of reports of shots fired in the city was down 43% from last year, Gates said.

“We usually get about 1,300 calls,” he said. “This year, we logged 706, which is an amazing difference.”

Felony charges are being filed against the 66 people, many of whose arrests were based on information supplied by their neighbors--a fact that may present problems for county prosecutors needing witnesses to win a conviction, Gates acknowledged.

“These cases are difficult to prosecute without witnesses,” the chief said. “But we are not going to pit neighbor against neighbor; that won’t work. If we get into a situation where we are doing just that, we will probably drop the charges.”

Gates added, however, that “most citizens who complained, believe me . . . said they care, said they are tired of this and said they are willing to testify.”

“You have to have a witness to get a conviction,” said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “Fortunately, in the majority of the . . . felony cases we filed Tuesday, our witnesses are officers who saw the defendants fire the weapons into the air.”

Still, the fact that citizens often alerted police to the shootings in the first place bothered residents in some parts of the city.

For example, South Los Angeles resident Pat O’Neal, whose 19-year-old son was arrested Monday morning by police with search warrants, said she believes that the person who identified her son as a shooter may have had a grudge against her family, which owns and rents several houses on her street.

“I’m going to tell police I don’t know who called and set my son up like this,” O’Neal said. “But I resent them coming over here and taking him out like he was a convict, and I resent my home being invaded by police.”

April Netterville, 21, who lives across the street from O’Neal, said police used search warrants to raid her home Monday morning.

“They broke my bed,” Netterville said. “They didn’t find anything. They didn’t arrest anyone.”

Beyond the problem of pitting neighbor against neighbor, Lt. Bruce Hagerty suggested additional problems in prosecuting the cases.

“It will all depend on how good the investigation is and whether they (detectives) can show it was a negligent act,” Hagerty said.

“Shooting at something in a vacant field, for example, probably wouldn’t be seen as a felony,” the lieutenant said. “But shooting in the air in a neighborhood is a dangerous and negligent act.”

Conviction on a felony charge of discharging a weapon in a reckless manner carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail, authorities said.

Separately, Gates chastised a South Los Angeles gun dealer, Western Surplus, for staying open longer than usual on New Year’s Eve in order to sell ammunition.

“We asked them to suspend sales and they said, ‘No way. This is the biggest time of the year for us to make money,’ ” Gates said. “I think the county district attorney ought to take a look at them.”

In a telephone interview, Al Campbell, manager of Western Surplus, denied that police officials asked him to suspend ammunition sales and said his decision to stay open an extra four hours on New Year’s Eve was a “matter of supply and demand.”

Campbell insisted that “we sell guns and ammunition in a legal manner.”

“We can’t play judge and jury with our customers,” he said. “Why do they let liquor stores sell liquor on New Year’s Eve when they know people are going to drink and drive?”

However, Campbell also admitted that some of his customers make no effort to hide the fact they intend to start the new year by shooting skyward at midnight.

“One customer said he was going to blow the hell out of 1989, because it was such a bad year for him,” Campbell said.