Warnings Issued on New Year’s Gunfire

Sounds of cheers and popping champagne corks will fill most homes when the clock chimes midnight Thursday. Some celebrants, however, will chose to illegally ring in 1999 by firing bullets into the air.

On Tuesday, law enforcement agencies announced plans to curb random gunfire, saying that additional LAPD officers and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies will be on patrol throughout the region and offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“Whatever goes up must come down, so people shouldn’t be firing bullets into the air,” said LAPD Cmdr. Mark Leap.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca said he will walk through East Los Angeles with deputies to warn people about the dangers of random gunfire.

“It’s a very clear message that if you shoot a gun indiscriminately into the air at any time, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Baca said. “It’s intolerable and uncivilized. Our neighborhoods must be safe.”

To help curb New Year’s gunfire, city officials passed an ordinance in 1990 banning the sale of ammunition the week before New Year’s. Those who sell bullets through Jan. 2 face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said.

Bullets fired into the air can fall at speeds fast enough to penetrate the human skull. It’s a felony to fire a gun into the air throughout Los Angeles County and violators face up to three years in state prison.

Police are advising residents to stay indoors between 11:45 p.m. Thursday and 12:15 a.m. Friday--the time most shots are fired.

Last year, LAPD Officer Steve Gajda was fatally shot while leading his partners on a New Year’s Eve patrol just before midnight. Gajda, 29, was part of a task force to curb New Year’s Eve gunfire when he and two partners were sent to break up a loud party in Boyle Heights. As the officers pulled up, a 17-year-old youth began to run away. When Gajda ran after him, the youth turned around and shot the officer in the head with a handgun. Police returned fire, killing the youth.

In the wake of Gajda’s death, LAPD officers went through four months of tactical training on how to respond to random gunshot calls, an LAPD official said. More than 200 LAPD officers will patrol the streets New year’s Eve, targeting the same types of loud parties and reports of gunshots that Gajda responded to a year ago.