Reward offered in death of girl

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 | 10:51 a.m.

The homes along Hassell Street near West Lake Mead and North Martin Luther King boulevards show telltale signs of their residents' many years of experience dealing with gangs.

Nearly every door and window of nearly every house has metal bars, behind which frightened people quietly wonder who will be the next victim of hoodlums banded in groups with names such as the 40 Block, GPKs and Rolling 60s.

As you pass Hassell Street homes it is difficult to tell which ones are abandoned, which ones are living quarters for gang members and which ones have law-abiding residents. Youths in driveways hanging by their cars warily watch strangers driving by.

Both Metro and North Las Vegas police who patrol the area that shares a common municipal boundary say they have long been frustrated by residents who would rather live in fear than cooperate with police to catch the thugs. They say without the residents' help they are handcuffed in crime-fighting efforts.

Community activists say there is a distrust of police who cannot protect residents from retribution.

The residents, as police say, are not talking.

"I can't do this," said one grandmother hastening two toddlers into a home shortly before noon Tuesday. "I've got my babies to worry about."

The Nov. 20 slaying of 13-year-old Tanisha Turner, who cut through the yard of an unoccupied house at 1929 Hassell St. and got caught in the crossfire of what police say was a gang- or drug-related shootout, has again raised the debate over how police, activists and residents should deal with the gang problem.

At issue Tuesday was the announcement by business leaders and members of Metro's Bolden Area Command Citizen/Police Advisory Committee that they have raised $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Tanisha.

While police and some activists believe the money will encourage a witness -- perhaps even one of the gang members who did not shoot the girl -- to come forward, other activists say such offers will only get more people injured or killed and will further drive a wedge in the relationship between the police and public.

"If $20,000 isn't enough, we'll up the ante," said Elgin Simpson, an area resident of 60 years who is a member of the Bolden committee. "A lot of people in this neighborhood rent these homes, and it's not hard for them to take the money and move to a better place.

"We want to make sure we get good information that will lead police to the person who killed this little girl."

Simpson, who helped get the nearby dilapidated crime-ridden Gerson Park public housing project torn down and replaced with decent affordable housing, said as long as innocent kids are getting shot, the area has a long way to go to attain ideal living conditions.

"The problems with gangs that have existed here for 40 years has gotten worse," he said. "Today we have a younger, meaner and more careless group that we've got to stop."

But others like self-admitted former gang member and current youth and community activist Ramont Williams say the amount of money being offered is not worth someone's life.

"If they want to do something real positive with $20,000, they should give it to Tanisha's family to help them, as they are really suffering financially," said Williams, a friend of the Turner family.

"Everyone in this neighborhood knows either firsthand or second-hand who shot Tanisha. But entire families live in these homes. Someone is not going to come forward because there is no way they can get their whole family out of here. People should not be put into a position to jeopardize their families."

As for one of the gang members turning in another, Williams said that is possible but unlikely.

"People join a gang because it provides the love and support they didn't get from their families," said Williams, director of Help Our People Elevate 2000, which mentors about 100 youngsters a year. "For some people, the gang is the only family they have. They're not going to turn in their family."

The Rev. Ammie Dunn-Jordan, pastor of the Touch Me Outreach, who helps residents of Hassell Street and surrounding neighborhoods, says offering $20,000 for the capture of this one killer "is not going to solve the problem."

"I cannot support something that is going to put people at greater risk," she said.

"If the goal is to get people to cooperate with police, then you have to have programs to build self-esteem in these neighborhoods. People with self-esteem have ethics and morals about life that makes them come forward on their own -- and they don't need $20,000 to do it."

Police, however, say that money has gotten witnesses to come forward and that has put wrongdoers behind prison bars, where they cannot harm innocent people.

"For years Crime Stoppers (formerly Secret Witness) has proven to be successful," North Las Vegas Police spokesman Justin Roberts said of the program that offers $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a murderer. That, he said, has brought the Turner reward pool to $22,000.

Police say despite the Turner shooting and despite a lack of help from frightened area residents, law enforcement authorities have made strides to reduce gang problems.

Roberts said violent crime in the area of Hassell Street is down. He noted that the Rolling 60s gang that operated north of Hassell Street has been decimated by federal racketeering indictments against 21 members.

"You don't see the light blue do-rags (symbol of the Rolling 60s) on any kids around here these days," Roberts said.

He admits however that, despite police efforts to eradicate gangs, they always will be an issue.

"We could throw our hands up in the air and give up, but we're not going to do that," Roberts said. "Will we get rid of all gangs and crime? No. Police officers will always have jobs. But we sure will try to decrease the problem."

Roberts said one reason for gangs being a problem for several generations is that the very young see their teenage brothers and cousins sell drugs, have lots of money in their pockets and drive nice cars.

"The problem breeds itself, and the kids sometimes only see the present and not the future when they may wind up dead or in prison," Roberts said, noting that efforts to reach residents to work with police helps give the young kids other choices.

Metro Sgt. Rick Barela said groups such as the Bolden committee are essential in getting people more involved.

"We are the police, but we cannot police by ourselves," Barela said. "It is a constant struggle dealing with gangs, but we also have other priorities in other neighborhoods that we have to address.

"One of our biggest problems is that when we question potential witnesses to gang crimes in some neighborhoods we don't get the cooperation we need."

Roberts and Barela both noted that the Turner shooting occurred at dusk, and that a number of people were either outside or watching from behind their barred windows and saw what happened. Yet few details about suspects have been learned. Roberts said detectives are running down the leads they have.

Roberts and Barela said patrols from both agencies have been beefed up in the area, but that was done long before Turner was killed.

"Tanisha Turner was only trying to get home that afternoon," Roberts said. "People should be able to walk the streets of their neighborhoods. But gangs are not prejudiced about who they shoot. They are selfish and do not care whose lives they affect."

Police are asking that anyone with information about the Turner shooting contact the North Las Vegas Police at 633-9111 or call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

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