200 Students Pledge to Stay Out of Gangs
About 200 students from Marina del Rey Middle School graduated from a DARE program Friday. They took their oath and made their pledge to stay out of trouble, out of gangs and away from drugs.
But it was a painter--who worked quietly on a mural in the background during the graduation ceremony--whose actions spoke the loudest about safety.
Muralist “Zender” John Estrada put the finishing touches on a peace mural that children helped design and paint after one of their classmates was killed in an April 3 drive-by shooting near the Mar Vista Gardens housing project.
Four students were victimized in the gang-related shooting. One was wounded, two escaped unscathed and another, Raphael Adan, 14, was killed.
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