Members of gang task force in Hemet are targeted by a booby trap for second time
Calling it an act of domestic terrorism, Hemet police are on high alert after a booby trap targeting members of the gang task force went off, narrowly missing an officer as he left his car to open a gate.
The is the second time in recent months that members of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force have been targeted.
In Tuesday’s incident, an officer was stepping out of his car to open a security gate at the task force headquarters when there was a loud crack and a bullet flew by just a few feet from him, landing 100 yards away in a nearby driveway.
“It was an improvised device capable of firing a regular bullet, and it was attached in such a way so that when the gate was opened, it activated and fired. Fortunately it narrowly missed,” said Hemet Police Lt. Duane Wisehart. “The gun was affixed to a fence and hard to see. It could have definitely killed someone. This is domestic terrorism.”
On New Year’s Day, someone cut a hole in the roof of the building and rerouted a natural gas pipeline. Then the valve was opened, filling the office with gas. Police said an explosion could have been set off had they not discovered the leak and emptied the building.
Wisehart said the device found this week wasn’t overly sophisticated but that it was deadly nonetheless. The building houses investigators from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the parole department and the district attorney’s office.
The unit is in the process of moving to another location.
Wisehart said Hemet has about 1,000 gang members, many who moved in from Los Angeles, drawn by low housing prices. Still, there are no suspects in this case.
“It could be one person who is mad at the police or the gang task force,” he said. “Everyone is being much more vigilant of their surroundings. We don’t know how far this person is willing to go. It’s unnerving.”
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EDITOR'S PICKS:
crazy
Posted by: Afp24 | February 25, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Dam, this like like Russia or some third world country. At least the gangs are starting to feel the heat.
Posted by: ed | February 25, 2010 at 01:39 PM
These are the type of people the Democrats are forcing state and county jails to release...by the thousands. They say they are non-violent. Who cares? I don't want these troublemakers in my neighborhood. Besides, that's just what they got caught for. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of troublemakers, who will turn an otherwise good neighborhood into a hell hole? We deserve peace in our neighborhoods, too, not just in the haughty taughty expensive neighborhoods of the legislators.
Posted by: Michael | February 25, 2010 at 01:49 PM
Street gangs ARE terrorist organizatons in every sense of that phrase. Bring our soldiers home from Iraq and Afghanistan and lets get rid of our domestic terrorists.
Posted by: James Sullivan | February 25, 2010 at 02:00 PM
Time to send in the national guard and wipe out every gang member and deport them.
Posted by: KK | February 25, 2010 at 02:25 PM
How come the DA's dont use RICO laws against these sociopathic gangs?
Posted by: syscom3 | February 25, 2010 at 02:41 PM
The cops have to watch their step with street gangs because the ACLU will say that efforts to stop the gangs have a disproportionate impact on protected minorities.
Posted by: James Sullivan | February 25, 2010 at 03:34 PM
Another reason to be anti-immigration ... these gang members should be used in experiments instead of lab rats and monkeys
Posted by: G F | February 25, 2010 at 05:03 PM
"The unit is in the process of moving to another location"? How about moving to one with video cameras.
Posted by: True Freedom | February 25, 2010 at 05:20 PM
The cops calling it "Domestic Terrorism" means they can now avail themselves of all the questionably Constitutional post-9/11 laws against "terrorism".
I'm sure Congress was thinking of 14-year-old schoolkids when they passed the PATRIOT Act.
Proof once again that if you make it easier for the cops to go after "terrorists" than ordinary criminals, the cops will eventually call *everything* "terrorism".
Posted by: Nate K. | February 25, 2010 at 07:22 PM
It so obvious...it must be the democrats and liberals fault.
Posted by: alan | February 25, 2010 at 07:30 PM
The cops calling it "Domestic Terrorism" means they can now avail themselves of all the questionably Constitutional post-9/11 laws against "terrorism".
I'm sure Congress was thinking of 14-year-old schoolkids when they passed the PATRIOT Act.
Proof once again that if you make it easier for the cops to go after "terrorists" than ordinary criminals, the cops will eventually call *everything* "terrorism".
THIS.
Posted by: Bill | April 07, 2010 at 07:25 PM
My very good friend who, is originally from down south in the big I.E.. Has told me in great detail how overrun with Meth that whole area is. He refer's to Hemet as the Meth Capital of the World. I can imagine how stuff like this could happen.
Posted by: narutofifgtindreamer | June 22, 2010 at 02:08 PM