Two Slayings Highlight Gang Problem : * Crime: Several youths had been wounded in gang fights in the city, but none had been killed--until last week.

Although several young people have been wounded in gang-related violence in Glendale over the past two years, no one had died--until last week, when two teen-age gang members were killed in separate incidents.

Glendale police say it was only a matter of time before young lives were lost.

“We’ve had an ongoing gang problem,” Sgt. Don Meredith, the Police Department’s gang specialist, said in a recent interview. “It’s just that in less than a seven-day period, two of the injuries were fatal.”

The two slayings have focused new attention on Glendale’s gang problems, usually overshadowed by the more frequent, often bloodier conflicts in neighboring Northeast Los Angeles.

Meredith estimates that 20 street gangs, with about 1,800 members, are active in the city. He said officers keep an especially close watch on about nine gangs--composed of about 1,000 members--considered the most dangerous.

Mayor Ginger Bremberg said Tuesday that she--like government leaders in similar relatively quiet suburbs--did not anticipate the growth of local gangs or their potential for violence.

“Everybody thought that it was a very small pocket of kids who didn’t know how to behave,” she said of Glendale’s problems. “I accept as much blame as everybody else.”

But Bremberg said police are now taking strong steps to curtail the city’s gang problems.

“I don’t have to talk to them about it,” she said. “They are working their buns off to keep it under control.”

Nevertheless, residents of west Glendale pleaded with the City Council on Tuesday to step up anti-gang enforcement.

Susan St. John, president of the Neighbors West Network homeowners’ group, said residents watched police last week round up more than 30 gang members who were defacing property and drinking in public late at night. But she said the youths were released without being arrested.

Other residents complained that the city’s inaction reinforced gang activity.

“We’re living in a combat zone over there,” said Eunice Boston, who owns rental property in the area. She said residents frequently hear gunfire.

“Gangs are taking over the west end of the city,” added Donna Martin. “But we’re the ones living in jail.”

Councilwoman Eileen Givens asked Assistant City Manager Robert McFall to prepare a report updating action being taken by police to combat gangs.

Meredith said in the interview that in the wake of last week’s slayings, the Police Department has put extra patrol cars in troubled areas and has warned gang members not to escalate conflicts.

“We have a very successful history of putting these people away,” the sergeant said. “We’re going to continue our aggressive and assertive gang enforcement activities.”

The department made five arrests after Oscar Hernandez, 16, of Glendale, was killed Sept. 16 in a drive-by shooting while walking with friends along Lake Street on the city’s west side. A 12-year-old companion was wounded in the incident.

One adult, Robin Carranza, 19, of Glendale, has been charged with one count of murder, four counts of attempted murder and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon. His Glendale Municipal Court arraignment is scheduled Monday.

Officers also arrested three boys, two 15 and one 14, in the slaying. An 11-year-old boy was arrested in a stolen car spotted near the shooting scene, but he has not been implicated in the murder.

Meredith said all five suspects are members of a South Glendale gang that has been feuding with a west-side gang to which Hernandez belonged.

Police say rivalry between Filipino gangs from Los Angeles resulted in the second slaying, which occurred Friday night during a dance at the Glendale Masonic Lodge.

Officers found Lysander Luis Gonzales, 19, of Los Angeles bleeding on the floor from several stab wounds. He died at County-USC Medical Center.

Meredith said Gonzales has been identified as a member of a Filipino gang. He was allegedly attacked by teen-agers from a rival gang.

About the same time, two 17-year-old boys were wounded, neither seriously, in a shooting in a parking lot near the lodge on North Maryland Avenue.

Police say the youths probably were shot because they were mistaken for members of a rival Filipino gang. Police seized a gun near the hall but do not believe it was the one used in the shooting.

Polly Carranza, whose son Robin was arrested in the Hernandez slaying, said she has tried in vain to organize parents of gang members into a support group that could also work to prevent violent confrontations.

“I’ve gotten mothers together, and they go once and that’s it,” she said. “They won’t get involved. It’s a lot of things. Fear, I think, is the biggest reason. They’re afraid they’re going to get in trouble.”

Carranza said parents often refuse to believe their children are involved in gangs.

“I denied it for a long time,” she said. “I called one officer a liar. Later, I apologized to him publicly at a gang forum.”

Robin Carranza has been arrested more than a dozen times for drug and graffiti offenses, his mother said. Polly Carranza said her son, who has been taking classes at Glendale Community College and working nights at a restaurant, was straightening out his life.

Police, however, say Robin Carranza has remained active in a South Glendale gang.

“It’s very painful,” his mother said after his arrest.

Times staff writer Martha L. Willman contributed to this story.