Girl’s Death Raises Fears of Gang War Flare-Up

For the past three years, the streets of San Pedro have been blissfully quiet.

Gone for the most part, residents said Friday, are the roving bands of gang members that made people think twice about leaving their homes at night. Also largely absent are the paint-scrawled gang tags that messed vacant walls throughout the port community’s working-class neighborhoods.

San Pedrans praised their three years of street tranquillity. They weren’t sure where it came from. Maybe it was because of the substance abuse programs and homes for recovering addicts that have sprung up around town, or maybe more aggressive police work. Police say it was a gang truce among half a dozen bands of San Pedro street toughs. Whatever the source, everyone just wants things to stay this way.

But after a stray bullet took the life of a 12-year-old neighborhood girl, many residents fear that the peace has ended. They wondered aloud Friday whether the death of Lydia Jaquez might be the spark that sets off a new, bloody street war.

“I hope not,” said 51-year-old Mary Cervantes, a longtime San Pedro resident. “Because if it does, a lot of innocent people are going to get shot.” Cervantes and other residents recalled with dread the stormy days before the lull, the days when gang-related assaults and robberies were commonplace.

“A couple years ago, you couldn’t walk down the street without having gang members all over, and you didn’t know if they were going to jack you or what,” said one lifelong San Pedro resident.

That began to change in mid-1992, when gang-intervention agencies banded together and sought a truce among the various gangs they worked with.

After several mass meetings, hundreds of gang members throughout the Harbor area agreed to settle future disputes without knives and guns.

Although some gangs have wavered in their commitment to the pact, the truce has been honored for the most part, especially in San Pedro, where gang counselors have kept a close watch.

But the truce began to fray six months ago when one of San Pedro’s established gangs began skirmishing with an upstart clan that has more loyalties to gang members in Lynwood, where the gang originated, than it does to the pact, said a gang counselor who requested anonymity.

The two bands have squared off at parties and have taken shots at each other, the source said, but Wednesday night’s attack marked the first killing. Investigators believe the gunmen were members of the older gang, and the intended targets were the newcomers.

Lydia Jaquez had just returned from a party with her older brother and a neighbor, and was sitting in the back seat of a car when five shots apparently meant for a group on the sidewalk erupted from a passing car. None of the men were injured, but one gunshot struck Lydia in the head. She died Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, the death of the youngster who loved baseball and caring for her two younger brothers has left a lingering cloud of sadness over her neighborhood, where she and her brothers lived with their grandparents.

“It’s very upsetting,” one longtime resident said. “Her life was hardly starting and it’s been taken away just like that. It’s terrible.”

Gang intervention counselor James Davis and his staff met with gang members and retired veterans to ease tensions. Davis’ organization, the Toberman Settlement House, is accepting burial donations on behalf of the Jaquez family.