Felton Glass

—Nov. 16, approximately 3 p.m., a multi-victim shooting at 84th Place and Normandie Avenue.

Two male victims in their 20s riding together on a mini-bike. As they reach the corner of 84th Place and Normandie Avenue, a suspect (male Black 20-25 years old) fires multiple times, striking one victim in the head and another in the arm. Both victims are transported to a local hospital where the victim with the head wound dies. According to police, both victims are documented members of the Eight Trey Gangsters. The suspect entered a waiting vehicle and fled the scene.

—Same day, approximately 7:35 p.m., a shooting at 108th Street and Western Avenue. The victim, male, 25, is standing on the sidewalk when a male suspect walks up and fires several rounds. The victim receives a gunshot wound to the head and is transported to a local hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

—Next day. The madness continues. At approximately 2:25 p.m., a shooting occurs at 10041 South Harvard Blvd. The victim, a male Rolling 100s gang member, receives a gunshot wound to his left ankle and is transported to a local hospital, where he was reported in stable condition. He does not state what occurred.

—On Tuesday at approximately 7:45 a.m., a shooting occurs at the corner of Manchester and Western avenues. The victim: male, 17, is shot in the chest. He is transported to a local hospital where he succumbs. A suspected shooter is in custody. (Police say the victim, Felton Glass, was a member of Eight Trey Gangsters, but Cornell Ward a relative and leader of the Inner City Mass Choir, disputed this. Ward said in a press release, “Felton was a member and tenor of the Inner City Mass Choir. Felton was a good child. We can talk about all the things Felton was—a son, brother, a cousin and more. Most importantly, Felton was a child of God.”

(Ward and others were set to hold a candle light vigil at the corner where Glass was killed Tuesday at 6 p.m.)

According to a police report, there have been 25 cases of homicide in the 77th precinct this year.

It is scary, but still a decrease from the 32 people that were killed a year ago. The 77th precinct is responsible for policing 12 square miles of Los Angeles County, equaling two homicides for every square mile that the department covers.

According to the department, the major factor in this recent increase is the rising friction between two local gangs: the Eight Trey Gangsters and the Neighborhood Crips.

“This year the 77th had actually been doing particularly well, and in comparison we still are,” said Capt. Dennis Kato. “This Western and Manchester area had been relatively quiet until this latest spike. When those two guys were hit on the minibike on the Nov. 16, that was the incident that sparked all of this retaliatory shooting that the community is seeing. It isn’t random. The two guys that were hit were members of the Eight Trey Gangsters. Then the following shootings were of members of rival gangs, the Rolling 100s. The victim’s father’s home was actually shot at that night as well,” he said.

Kato said that from a community standpoint he understood the worry and panic over the shootings, and attributes some of the violence to the fact that the Manchester/Western area, essentially from 79th Street up to near Century Boulevard, has no gang prevention/intervention program in place. The mayor’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program has grid zones where they are heavily active, but their boundaries, curiously, are at the beginning and the end of the 77th precincts coverage area. So, that whole middle corridor has nothing in place to help remedy problem.

Even so, Kato said, although there is no program in place, residents are stepping up and helping out.

“The community has been much more vocal lately,” he said. “This isn’t like back in the ’80s when there were 135 homicides a year and people just took it as being normal L.A. life and kept their mouths shut. These shootings aren’t normal. The community is talking to us and they are giving us what we need to make arrests, which is key in stopping all the retaliation. When we can go to these gangs and say, we got the shooter, we have him in custody, these feuds can stop. We ask them to trust that the justice system is going to handle it, and sometimes they do.”

Kato said the 77th is working diligently to put a program in place in the corridor, even something separate from the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program. He also stated that a number of gang members have been in support of a program and want to get involved, acknowledging a concern about the community and being open to helping make it safer.

“Having a gang intervention program in place is really the one missing piece to the 77th,” he said.

In response to the shootings, the precinct has put more resources on the streets and warns the community that although this will mean more checkpoints and traffic stops, that residents should be patient. A lot of energy is being dedicated to their safety.