Court injunction targets Harbor Gateway gangs

They've terrorized residents of the Harbor Gateway area for years, and now two gangs are getting a taste of their own medicine, though without the shooting and stealing and killing, the Daily Breeze reports.

A permanent injunction handed down by a Superior Court judge prevents members of two violent Harbor Gateway gangs from meeting in public, trespassing on private property, having spray paint or any other tools of the graffiti trade, and they've got to stay off the streets from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. From the story:

The injunction approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern makes permanent a temporary injunction granted by Judge David Yaffe in March, the same day gang members shot a 6-year-old boy traveling through Harbor Gateway with his family.

Police, the City Attorney's Office and harbor-district City Councilwoman Janice Hahn had sought the injunction since Dec. 15, 2006, when 204th Street gang members allegedly shot 14-year-old Cheryl Green because she was black.    

The shooting enraged residents, who urged public officials to take strong action. The injunction took months to complete and had to be approved by a judge and served on gang members.

The injunction also prevents the gang members from possessing drugs and weapons, and creates a "safety zone" of close to two square miles. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who sought the court ruling, now wants more money for job training in the area. The full story is here.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[David]

Injunction Schmunction, unenforceable (see Avenues injunction from years past). And what the hell does it mean when you report 'the injunction prevents these vermin from carrying drugs and weapons?' How exactly does it do that, like homey's going to be, ah, yeah, the injunction, yo, I'm leavin my glock and blunt at home??? Foolish...

It also provides less opportunities to actually arrest these predominantly illiegal immigrant gangsters and hang 'em out to dry on three strikes. We need them on the streets commiting felonies, just better police work.