Infant killed in Van Nuys gang shooting

[Blue_Tires]

Police said the shooting that killed a 4-month-old boy and injured two others in Van Nuys early this morning was prompted by an argument between rival gang members.

The baby, Andrew Garcia, was being fed by a family friend who was holding him inside a car parked at 14300 Kittridge Street, close to the site of a party. Anna Contreras, 28, the friend, and Eric Ramirez, who was standing outside the car, also were shot and injured.

LAPD Det. James Nuttall said the baby’s father “is linked to a criminal street gang” and that Ramirez is a known gang member. Contreras and the boy’s mother have no criminal history, he said. The group had been at the party about a block and a half away, Nuttall said.

Two suspects, believed to be members of a rival gang, got into an argument with the group near the car between midnight and 12:30 a.m., Nuttall said.
One of the two suspects fired a shotgun six times and both fled on foot, police said. Ramirez, 18, was shot, along with Contreras and the baby.

The infant was “caught in the middle of a gang confrontation,” Nuttall said. “It’s a disturbing crime scene.”

Contreras, who is pregnant, and the baby were transported to UCLA Medical Center, where the child died shortly afterward. Contreras was in stable condition. Ramirez walked to nearby Valley Presbyterian Hospital.

Nuttall says police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspects involved and says, “Somebody has to come forward.”


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/baby-killed-in-van-nuys-gang-shooting.html

[gratuitous]

1. "Somebody has to come forward"

Yeah, that could happen. Right about the time that Nigerian minister shows up at my door with my part of a $62 million money laundering scam. Or is it a $620 million scam? Anyway, I'll be wealthy by the time these guys are turned in to the cops.

If white people were roaming around these neighborhoods, shooting them up, would folks like Ms. Contreras and Mr. Ramirez and their neighbors be upset? Would they march on city hall, demanding the cops do something? But the suspects are members of a rival gang. So, nothing. Everyone will go to the funeral of little 4-month-old Andrew Garcia, cry and hold each other, and then everyone goes back home and waits for the next murder to happen.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. straight to the racial angle as usual. nonwhites didn't bring up a racial angle about Garrido

But with crime involving nonwhites...posters bring up race in a nanosecond

[gratuitous]

7. So you think someone will come forward?

Will this community rat out the killers to the cops downtown?

Or, if nobody comes forward to identify the killers, and I'm thinking they won't, I submit that one of the main driving factors will be racism. Fear will factor into it for sure, because gangs operate on many levels, but racism will definitely hamper the state's efforts to bring the killers to justice.

By the way, you're welcome to find and link to my other posts that go "straight to the racial angle as usual." Otherwise, you don't know what you're talking about.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. didn't mean YOUR posts go 'straight to the racial angle', meant there is

internet population that goes 'straight to racial angle' when nonwhites involved. A group blame is assigned.

[gratuitous]

11. Then maybe you should post a standalone reply

Because it sure looked like you were saying "straight to the racial angle" to me and about me.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. your post is a perfect example

[marmar]

5. WTF?

Sincerely, :wtf:

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. +1

[nini]

14. If those white guys were a gang - the reaction would be the same

Doesn't matter what color gangs are - they all instill fear of retaliation to keep witnesses quiet.

I guess it's easy to criticize those frozen in fear who want justice but are more afraid of losing more loved ones to these animals.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. +2

[Nikki Stone1]

3. I heard about this on the news this morning

Very sad. Van Nuys has been on a downward slide since the 80s and most recently since the 94 earthquake.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. poor van nuys. I lived in Van Nuys 20 years ago. drive thru it weekly

[marmar]

8. Isn't Van Nuys where "Valley Girls" originated from? ..... And the porn industry?

nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. 'Valley girls' originated from the Sherman Oaks area of the SFV (richer area). Porn industry is all

over Valley. Van Nuys is just the more urban core of the valley, where the main police station and such are.

Valley is BIG - 1/3rd of LA or 1 million people live here.

[marmar]

12. Thanks for the info....When I visit LA, I only ever go to Santa Monica & the Westside.....

..... I've seen the Valley from atop the hill at Universal Studios, though. :)

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. Universal studios is in the valley...north hollywood, corner of Lankershim & Ventura

There is more to the world than SM and the westside. }( :hi: :hi: :hi:

[Speck Tater]

13. Van Nuys was a nice quiet place when I lived and worked there in the 1960's. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. I moved in about 1984 or 85. The department stores at the Panorama Mall shut down shortly after

and things went downhill from there. Montomery wards shut down, Wal Mart moved in.