Town fighting gang’s grip

When a Southern California nursery opened operations near here in the early 1990s, authorities say, there were gang members among the families of workers who relocated.

The gang eventually took root in this unincorporated Tulare County town of about 4,000 built around a big packing plant and surrounded by orange groves.

“When I moved there in 1976, nothing ever happened,” recalled Sheriff’s Det. Joe Aguilar. “And then there were four gang murders within a four-block radius of my house in the late 1990s.”

After receiving death threats, he moved his family to another community in 2005. But he is still part of the fight against street violence as a gang-unit officer.

An estimated 400 members of the Sureno gang live in this town, which is fighting its reputation as a gang haven. Members used to meet and conduct violent initiations on baseball bleachers at Ivanhoe Elementary School, the closest thing to a community center here.

But hundreds of residents convened and called on the Sheriff’s Department for more protection. A sheriff’s substation was opened, the bleachers were torn down and deputies started visiting the school to serve as mentors and to describe the reality behind the often romanticized gang life.

When Aguilar spoke to fifth-graders recently, he took along a Sureno dropout who is studying criminal justice, hoping to become a policeman and eventually a lawyer.

“What do gang members do?” Aguilar asked the students. A boy replied, “They try to hurt other people and kill them.”

Asked how many had families harmed by gangs, such as relatives who went to jail or were shot, about half of the students raised their hands.

“It’s not as bad as it used to be,” said Isabel Valenzuela, a Head Start program manager with three children at the school. She also has a 23-year-old son who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for a 2004 attempted murder, including extra time for a gang affiliation.

“Initially we were in denial and said this is probably not going to happen to him,” she said, adding that hers is a hardworking, religious family. “When he was sentenced, it was a huge shock.”

But even in a small town, eradicating gang violence is tough. Tulare County Sheriff’s Det. Kent Haws was fatally shot in December while checking on suspicious activity along a country road. A gang member was arrested in the department’s first shooting death in more than half a century.

People erected a roadside memorial of plastic flowers and votive candles, but Ivanhoe Elementary Principal Debbie Cardoza said parents want a more permanent tribute to one of the town’s protectors.

“Who’s going to win the war?” Cardoza said. “We will.”

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tim.reiterman@latimes.com