Boyle Heights Residents Rally Against Violence

Grieving over the gang shooting that killed two young people in their neighborhood last weekend, about 150 Boyle Heights residents took to the streets Tuesday, calling for an end to the violence and blaming the city for failing to make the area safe.

“This is not the first time blood has been spilled on this street, but we want it to be the last,” said Father Mike Kennedy, pastor of the Dolores Mission Catholic Church, which coordinated the protest on South Clarence Street.

Kennedy was flanked by local activists and community members, mostly women, who say they live in fear because of gangs.

Early Sunday evening, someone sped through the neighborhood and opened fire on Raymond Hernandez, a 19-year-old with gang affiliations. He died at the scene.

Stray bullets sprayed southward, down the block, one striking 10-year-old Stephanie Raygoza as she played with friends in front of her house. The fifth-grader, who attended Utah Elementary School a block away, died at a hospital a short time later.

“The killings [will] continue” unless the city responds, said Sister Pat Reinhart, principal at Dolores Mission School, an elementary around the corner.

Reinhart, Kennedy and area residents accused police of failing to provide a strong presence and said it was unusual to see patrol cars on the streets.

Capt. Al Michelena, head of detectives at LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division, said that he sympathized with the residents and that his officers, responsible for a 15-square-mile area with 38 gangs, are doing their best.

“We are spread very thin, “ Michelena said, noting that police officer staffing levels are down about 10% at Hollenbeck. “Deployment in Hollenbeck is the lowest it’s been in years. If we had more officers on the street, sure, there would be less crime.”

Michelena said a suspect has been arrested in the shooting. Police have not released the suspect’s name, saying it would hurt the investigation.

The slayings bring the total number of violent deaths in Hollenbeck to 29 this year, two fewer than the total for the same period in 1999, Michelena said.

Protesters said the city has failed to respond to the neighborhood’s request for speed bumps to deter high-speed, drive-by shootings.

Kennedy noted the sad irony that Stephanie Raygoza’s parents, Norma Rubalcaba and Gilberto Raygoza, were part of a group of community members who proposed the speed bumps.

The demonstrators laid sacks of sand across the street and shouted that if the city does not act to install real barriers by Friday, dozens of parents would sit in the street to block it.

Councilman Nick Pacheco, who represents the Eastside neighborhood, said he would consider the request but questioned whether speed bumps would deter gang violence.

“If a fool is crazy enough to shoot out of a window in a drive-by, he’s crazy enough to go airborne over speed bumps,” Pacheco said.

Residents said they will press on.

“Unity of community is a wonderful thing,” said Rita Chairez, 40, mother of five. “You can see it today. It can move mountains. It can stop this violence, that’s what we hope.”