Editorial: Work with police to end killing

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002 | 8:48 a.m.

A 9-year-old girl died Sept. 7 as she was shielding an infant from gunfire that had erupted outside their apartment in North Las Vegas. The girl's 8-year-old sister was hit in the leg as bullets whizzed by. Police reports say the tragedy began when a man in a passing car saw someone on a bicycle he identified as belonging to a rival gang. The man in the car allegedly began flashing gang signs and then got out and opened fire. The only ones hit were the girls. The murder was only the latest in a string of gang-related killings in that area over the past 18 months.

Gang-related violence has been going on for generations, so long that many people may be resigned to them. We urge people to resist the notion that gang killings are a way of life that is destined to continue. Just as the 9-year-old girl took action to save lives -- she also pushed her sister to safety -- residents can also take action. Nowhere is it written that the culture of gangs, the mentality that lights a killing fire inside rivals when they spot each other, must be passed on to the coming generations. Somewhere along the line that culture can be reversed. People have to believe that.

A good time to start for people who are interested in helping to change this culture would be Thursday night in the Lois Craig Elementary School at Civic Center Drive and East Gowan Road in North Las Vegas. A community forum sponsored by police will begin at 6 p.m. Metro Police and North Las Vegas Police officers will be asking residents for ideas on how to stop the violence, and for their support as they put those ideas into practice.

We cannot think of many meetings more important than this one. We hope residents turn out in force at this and other community forums. Police cannot solve the problem on their own. They need your help. More importantly, the children not yet old enough to know one gang from another need you.

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