1,000 Hold Vigil Against Violence in Santa Monica

On a day when families pay respect to departed loved ones, neighbors, friends and relatives of the victims of a string of Santa Monica shootings called for an end to the recent violence that has swept their city.

The Day of the Dead, or El Dia de los Muertos, traditionally is a festive celebration, with some paraders dressing as skeletons and making noise to wake the dead.

But Monday night’s vigil at St. Anne’s Church was a somber occasion drawing about 1,000 people. They heard speeches and held a candlelight march in the Pico area to pay tribute to the 20 people who have died in Santa Monica since 1985 as a result of gang violence.

“There are an awful lot of troubled hearts,” said Father Adalberto Blanco, priest at St. Anne’s, looking over the audience. Church members have compared the recent killings to the earthquake in 1994, he said, adding: “Then it was a natural disaster. This one is human.”

Six people have been killed in the city in one month, several of those in what police believe is a war between Culver City and Santa Monica gangs.

On Monday, Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) announced that a truce had been reached with warring Culver City and Santa Monica gangs after lengthy weekend negotiations with a collection of gang intervention groups working out of his office.

“I believe this truce will hold,” Hayden said. “The question facing the community is how do we determine what needs to be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Police welcomed news of the truce but wouldn’t comment on the chances of its success.

“It’s obvious that any assistance we can get would be appreciated,” said Lt. Gary F. Gallinot, a Santa Monica police spokesman. “But a truce won’t have any impact on our investigation into the killings.”

The spate of murders started the night of Oct. 12, when Omar Sevilla, 22, a Culver City gang member, was shot in Santa Monica. About two hours later, Horst Fietze, a German tourist on vacation with his wife, was slain during a robbery. Fietze’s death was not gang related.

Five days later, Juan Martin Campos, 28, was shot to death inside a Santa Monica liquor store. The next day Jaime Cruz, a UCLA student, was wounded. And on Oct. 27, Michael Juarez, 27, and his brother Anthony, 19, from San Luis Obispo County, were killed inside a clothing store recently opened by their cousin, a former Santa Monica gang member who had turned away from street life.

The city, which had only one homicide in all of last year, suddenly had five. The number jumped to six Sunday when police found the body of a homeless man on the beach.

Two people have been arrested in the Cruz killings and two transients were arrested Sunday in connection with the beach slaying.

“The problem of violence has been going on for too long in our community,” said Oscar De La Torre, 27, a counselor at Santa Monica High School and a march organizer. “The victims should be mourned, but we also have to do something about the root causes. We need peace.”

Several speakers also said more should be done to create jobs, increase educational opportunities and to end a pattern of social neglect that feeds a violent gang lifestyle.

“This is not a Latino problem; it’s a community problem, an entire community problem,” said Frank Juarez, a telephone company supervisor whose son was wounded and whose nephews Anthony and Michael were killed in the clothing store shooting.

The tragedy, he said, has made the Juarez family closer.

“Violence is something you can’t run away from,” he said. “We have to stay close and heal as a family, and this is really a wake-up call.”