Shootings sharpen focus on gang culture

Jace Radke

Monday, Feb. 28, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

In the world of gangs, a stray glance or a harsh word can be deadly.

A perceived disrespect, no matter how small, is enough to set into motion a cycle of winning that respect back that usually ends with bullets flying, Metro Police Gang Lt. Jim Owens said.

"It doesn't take much," Owens said. "Any measure of disrespect will lead to guns coming out. In the old days if you lost face, you met someone behind the school, but now the violence has escalated."

Violence shattered the lives of family and friends of two Las Vegas teens killed in unrelated drive-by shooting deaths recently. Police continue to investigate the deaths of Christopher Gaitor, 15, and Sam Larios, 17, and have not yet determined what, if any role, gangs played in the homicides.

If gang violence was a factor in the deaths, a perceived disrespect visited on one of Las Vegas' nearly 7,000 gang members could have been the catalyst.

The gang unit focuses not only on helping to solve such crimes, but on preventing retaliation. The group keeps tabs on known gang members in the Las Vegas Valley and lets them know they're being watched.

Police have files on 6,905 gang members and 2,999 gang associates, people who are involved with gangs but are not full-fledged members, in Las Vegas.

"Those numbers are probably low," Owens said. "We haven't got a file on every gang member in Las Vegas, but between the members and the associates, you have almost 10,000."

The count may be harder to get these days, because of fashion.

"Ten years ago you might have been able to spy a kid in big baggy jeans that were sagging, and maybe he had a red belt on," Owens said. "You could safely say it was probably a gang member, but now the fashions have crossed over."

Now detectives depend on gang members to admit their affiliation, which they usually do, Owens said.

Once a gang member is identified, a card with his name, characteristics and affiliation is made and for two years it remains in the gang unit's active member file. If in that two years police have no more contact with the member, his file moves to inactive, and after two more years with no run-ins, the file is purged, Owens said.

Since 1995, when Metro had identified 4,263 gang members in Las Vegas, the number of gang members has steadily increased with the overall population growth.

While the number of gang members has grown, the drive-by shooting statistics have leveled out over the last five years. In 1995 there were a record 527 drive-by shootings. Since then police have recorded about 200 a year except for last year, when it bumped up to about 300.

"We're back where we usually are this year with 16 so far," Owens said. "In the past the stats got a little twisted because they included walk-ups where someone would walk up and shoot. Now we are keeping a more precise count."

In all police have found 201 gangs represented at one time or another in Las Vegas, but Owens estimates between 25 and 30 gangs commit the majority of gang-related crimes.

One thing that hasn't changed about gang members is that they are notoriously bad shots, making it all the more dangerous for innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire during a drive-by.

"Sometimes the only difference between someone getting shot one weekend and missed another is 6 inches," Owens said. "Because they aren't good shots we get both gang-related and gang-motivated shootings."

Gang-motivated shootings are usually retaliatory in nature and against other gang members, but gang-related shootings include the innocents that happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jace Radke is a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-2318 or by e-mail at jace@lasvegassun.com.