Police believe feud between two gangs led to slaying of Wilson High honors student

Long Beach police believe the fatal shooting of a Wilson High School honors students occurred when two rival groups of gang members at the school's homecoming dance got into a confrontation.

Two reputed gang members were arrested in connection with the shooting Friday night outside the Long Beach high school, and police said they are looking for other suspects.

Melody Ross, who was also a track athlete, was gunned down as she and her friends were leaving a football game. Two men -- an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old -- were wounded in the shooting, which occurred about  10 p.m. as crowds of students gathered near Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street.

Police say Ross was an innocent victim.

At first, police detectives struggled to find witnesses, even though hundreds of students were on campus when the shooting occurred. Police said more students came forward Monday, some at the urging of school officials.

The shooting shocked faculty and students at the campus, a diverse school that serves some of the city's most affluent communities.

Ross was dressed as Super Girl for the homecoming game against Polytechnic High School, which was attended by a number of students decked out in costumes on the day before Halloween.

The day after the shooting, Ross' classmates gathered at a pedestrian crossing along Ximeno near the football stadium exit to leave flowers and light candles by the curb where she was shot. They hugged one another, and some sat against the school fence or on the grass with their heads down, pondering the loss of a friend they described as polite and well-liked.

The names of the suspects were not released.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Comments

[TheBigPicture]

These guys should get a speedy trial and sent to prison, hard labor, for 20 years, then deported back to Mexico...

[ricardo]

so police believe it was gang related ? duh! people please how ignorent do you guys believe we are its just so sad there were just kids

[TheBigPictureIsConfused]

deported back to Mexico...
Where does it say they were illegal?

[KK]

Affluent communities aren't safe anymore. All it takes is just one no good gangbanger to destroy an entire neighborhood. I wish we have tougher law and punishment. Some people are just born bad.

[missoula]

From the press coverage you might wonder: do these gang members EVER actually shoot each other? The reports are always about bystanders getting shot, and that's because the press is only concerned about shocking you and selling advertising. They don't give a damn about the dead children. Same thing with abused kids: unless the child dies in some horrible fashion, or the abuser is a priest or a schoolteacher, fuggedaboutit!

[DEDE]

What about the vice principal treating the parents like dirt, less than dirt, when the parents were pleading for help after their dauther was killed in cold blood. If he treated the parents like that in front of the camera,how does he treat people when the camera's arn't rolling. I have two words-DISCUSTING and FIRED!!!!!

[Albert]

Wow! bigpicture, you're such an IDIOT, makes me laugh

[Jay]

TheBigPicture? more like narrow minded. Where in the article does it state these thugs were from Mexico? People like you that make racist, unfounded comments should be sentenced to hard labor.

[Rudy]

Why is it everytime something happens like this, whether it's a murder or a crime, people start writing racial remarks on these blogs, especially about Mexicans and deportation? 1) How do we know they were Mexican gang members? What, aren't there any black or white gang members? 2)And if they were Latino's, how do we know they're illegal? Just because they're Latino's doesn't mean they're illegal. And just because they have a Spanish surname doesn't make them Mexican. 3) Why can't you rasest idiots keep the blame where it belongs, on the thugs who commit these crimes? I agree they should be "sent to prison, hard labor" and maybe even the death penalty, but why is it I never read about people saying the black gang members, or criminals, should be deported back to Africa. Or the white criminals back to Europe. Qiut blaming a race. There's much more to it then that. Maybe we should sent the LAtion soldiers who died for this country back "to Mexico" as well. Or why not the author of the article written, Robert J. Lopez, as well?

[Andy in Pasadena]

My children go to private school. Not one gang member among them. My local public school, however, has an estimated 5% of the student body with gang affiliations. While I say we should protect the kids who want a good education by removing any child with violent infractions or known gang affiliations, the local ACLU is fighting against coming down on these kids. When will we step up and protect our children? I am fortunate enough to have the means to send my kids to private school.. but what about those who don't?

[DMartinez]

WHEN WILL IT END? WHEN WILL WE SAY "ENOUGH"?

SOMETHINGS NEVER CHANGE....

Somethings never change. It seems as though we're becoming more and more desensitized to
hearing or reading about more senseless killings. More senseless killings of young
people; young innocent people. Young people who perhaps had bright futures ahead of them. Futures that would someday contribute to our communities and society. Unfortunately, not anymore.

Brutal, barbaric gang thugs or random barabaric killers snuff these bright stars out and we're left wondering, why? Why? Why does this happen?

I don't wish to rehash what I've said so many times before (in other articles) but when
you see tragic incidents like this where a young, innocent life is taken at the hands of
vile, beast, or by gang thugs, it's as though the subject was spoken about for the first time.

When a young life is wiped out through a senseless brutal killing it warrants a serious discussion that asks "why"? Or maybe we should be asking "when"? When will we stand up and say enough is enough?

When will the Hispanic community say ENOUGH? When will the community as a whole say
"ENOUGH"? Why do we allow this to happen?

When are we going to stand up and call a thug a thug?

When are we going to stand up and call a gang banger, a vile animal that should be
removed from society?

When are we going to scream and yell at the Latino parents for allowing their gang
banging kids to become such vile beasts?

Yes, I know that Latinos are not the only ones that commit murder. I know. I know. So all of you out there that are of the politically correct persuasion that coddle these thugs, RELAX. This is an introspection. I AM LATINO. THIS HITS HOME. I am tired of seeing this happen DAILY. And you should be too.

But when are we going to demand that Latino parents take control of their homes and their
families and the raising of the their kids to NOT be vile gang banging thugs? And IF the
kids are that much out of control and wont listen to the parents (which happens), THEN
when are we going to demand that the Latino parents whose kids are beyond help, turn
their potential killers into the police rather than coddle them and defend them for their vile acts?

WHEN?

When are we going to quit playing games with semantics and political correctness and see
these serious problems for what they are?

When are we going to teach our children that human life means SOMETHING?

When is the Latino community going to stop blaming others for their failures or for their shortcomings and hold themselves accountable for their actions or Inactions?

Why is this important? Because too many in the Latino community do not embrace the
concept of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and the importance this has to a CIVIL SOCIETY. We as
a civil society have an obligation, a social contract, that requires (DEMANDS) that its
citizens behave at a certain level of moral and ethical decency. UNFORTUNATELY, too many
in the Latino community do not grasp this or accept this basic tenet of a civil society.
Instead they would rather pass the blame or their actions anyone but themselves.

Folks, as a Latino American I hold myself and my family to standards beyond what our laws
and society asks of us. Now I am not saying that I am perfect nor am I implying that my
family and I are model citizens. No. What I am saying is that I cherish a civil society
that will allow others to respect human life. And my desire to live in such a society
where we can walk down the street at night without having to worry about a gang banger
committing a drive by shooting or a random killing is what drives me to want to teach my
children the simple and basic values of life.

Sadly though we have too many within the Latino community that fail to grasp this simple but crucial concept. Instead what we have are misguided people that would rather shoot the good guys (police) than arrest the vile killers that stalk and prey on victims within the Latino community.

I hate using this forum as a political soap box, especially when a young person such as
this young girl should be remembered and justice should be sought. But if we're to seek and realize justice for this young girl (and other victims) then I believe we need to
have open dialog on the integral factors that effect this serious problem of senseless
racial gang killings.

May Melody Ross rest in peace.

David Martinez

[victor]

It's true that just because they have Hispanic names that they may not be illegal, but they are probably the offspring of illegals. Hispanics in CA have a 50% high school drop-out rate. The 2nd and 3rd generation Mexicans that drop-out usually don't have the work ethic of the 1st generation illegals so they become the 300,000 estimated gangbangers in southern CA. If we could deport all the illegals, it would save thousands of innocent lives as well as billions of dollars in future decades.

[Frank]

Interesting the Times is filtering my original message (two words for gangs: Final Solution) but is letting many other comments through.

[Pau Sumner]

Time to make their parent responsible. fly them to Afghanistan.... give them a parachute and unload them.

[J.S]

Maybe the solution to so many children growing up and ending up as troubled people is NOT having them. If you can't rear your children to become a productive member of our society then STOP having them.

[brenda]

theyre not even from mexico, what do you mean deported back to mexico?

[JohnHenry]

The gangs involved were both African-American gangs...

[Human Being]

Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis don't sound very "Mexican". Not even remotely Hispanic. Stop jumping to conclusions, people. The victim was of filipino descent. My heart goes out to her familiy.

[Human Being]

Correction: The victim was of Cambodian descent, not filipino.

[Your Ignorance SHOWS]

I work at the school and I know who one of the supposed suspects are. I can tell you that the kid may have had an affiliation to a gang, but was DEFINITELY a WANNABE.. He was NOT OFFICIAL. The kid doesn't strike me as a "gun toter, cold blodded killer". That being said, anyone is capable of anything.

Everyone wants to write things and speak out when bad stuff happens, but what are YOU PERSONALLY doing to affect change? The ignorance of people is what killed this poor child and some of you are showing YOUR ignorance in your comments posted here. I pray you don't have children....

Last of all, you should take a look in the morror and take an account of your racial feelings and your evilness that you spew/think/feel towards people who are different from you. You should be ashamed of yourself, ESPECIALLY if you're raising children.

[The Fed]

The Big Picture Needs to Look at the Picture.

The alleged gunmen are African-American gang members.

Now go back to Europe.