Panel Voices Frustration Over Shootings in Parks

Just two days after two city park rangers were fired upon and hours after a man was killed in a San Fernando Valley park, a City Council panel expressed growing frustration Monday that a previous call for better training of the rangers has gone unheeded.

More than two months ago, the council’s Public Safety Committee had ordered a training program involving the city Recreation and Parks Department and the Los Angeles Police Department as an alternative to arming the rangers, a proposal that lacked support from the LAPD.

But on Monday, council members said they were dismayed to learn from officials of both departments that hardly any of the training had begun while many city parks remain dangerous to the public.

“You are giving our parks to the drug dealers,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes David M. Gonzales Park where a man was shot to death early Monday. “You’re saying: ‘Stay off our streets, go into our parks.’ ”

Ranger Doug Kilpatrick, who was met with gunfire as he turned a corner with his partner Saturday night in the northeast area near Chevy Chase Park in Atwater Village, said they narrowly escaped being killed. Photos of their vehicle showed numerous bullet holes, including one in the windshield.

“I don’t think I could have used verbal judo to convince that shooter not to shoot,” he said. “We need to be armed.”