Residents Call for Gang Truce
Three days after two youths were killed by gunfire in the Pico Aliso housing projects, dozens of Boyle Heights residents marched Friday along neighborhood streets, calling upon local gangs to make peace.
Gang gunfire took the life of 12-year-old Roberto Villalpando and Andres Wilson Chavez, 22. Police said there are no suspects yet in Tuesday’s shooting, which they said appeared to be gang-related. Chavez was believed to have been the intended target.
Youths, mothers and parishioners marched through three different gang territories with signs reading “You Are Not Our Enemies, You Are Our Sons.”
“We want to let them know that we don’t hate them,” said Leonor Ramirez, project director of Pico Aliso’s Multi-Purpose Center, “that we care about them too.”
The participants prayed while they marched toward 1st Street, where a Mass was celebrated in the area where Villalpando and Chavez were killed.
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