Tag: street gangs

3 alleged gang members and an associate charged in the fatal shooting of an off-duty LAPD officer | CNN

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Editor’s Note: (7/19/24) Since this story was published in January 2022, Rios, Contreras, and Cisneros pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Rios and Cisneros were both sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and Contreras was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Grisham pleaded guilty to violent crime in aid of racketeering and is expected to be sentenced in September.

CNN
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Federal prosecutors charged three alleged gang members and one alleged gang associate Thursday in the fatal shooting of off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer Fernando Arroyos during an attempted robbery.

Luis Alfredo De La Rosa Rios, 29, Ernesto Cisneros, 22, and Jesse Contreras, 34, are allegedly members of the F-13 gang, according to a US Justice Department release. Rio’s alleged girlfriend Haylee Marie Grisham, 18, was also charged.

According to the complaint, Arroyos was house-hunting on Monday with his girlfriend when a black pickup truck drove up. Rios and Cisneros pointed guns at Arroyos and his girlfriend and removed items from both, including chains from Arroyos’ neck.

There was an exchange of gunfire between Arroyos and the two suspects, after which Arroyos collapsed and the two suspects fled, the release said. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and took Arroyos to a hospital where he died.

The four defendants were in the vehicle and allegedly were at the scene of the robbery and the shooting, the complaint said. They are charged with violent crime in aid of racketeering, which carries a potential death penalty and a minimum sentence of life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office in an attempt to contact legal representation for the defendants and is awaiting a response.

Arroyos, 27, “was starting a very promising career,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday. He was with the department for three years and assigned to the Wilshire Division.

“He found himself, after working a series of days in patrol, to have a day off, enjoying it with his girlfriend on a hunt for a house, a place to live, a place to buy and invest in this city and the future of this region,” Moore said.

Arroyos is survived by his mother and stepfather.

“He was the only child, he had a promising future, a bright future that was taken away, viciously, over a street robbery,” the chief said.

F-13 is a “large, multi-generational street gang that previously has been the subject of federal prosecutions, including two large racketeering cases,” the US Attorney’s office said in a news release.

The news release did not mention any connection between Arroyos and the suspects.

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July 20, 2024
2 men charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in New York | CNN

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Editor’s Note: Dashawn Austin and Akeem Artis were sentenced Wednesday after being convicted in April 2024 on charges in the shooting death of 1-year-old Davell Gardner and on other charges, a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said. Austin was convicted of second-degree murder and Artis was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the child’s death. Austin was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison and Artis was sentenced to 40 years, the statement said.

CNN
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Two men were charged Thursday in the connection with the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in New York City last year, according to a news release from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

The baby, identified as Davell Gardner, was killed last July on the sidewalk in front of Brooklyn’s Raymond Bush Playground.

Less than a year after that shooting, Dashawn Austin, 25, and Akeem Artis, 24, were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting and Davell’s death. Both men are members of a local street gang called the Hoolies and the violence was motivated by gang rivalry and retaliation, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office.

Artis was the driver of a car from which Austin and a second shooter, who was not named, exited and then allegedly fired into a crowd attending a cookout on July 12, 2020, according to the indictment. Four people were shot, including the infant. The other victims, all innocent bystanders, survived.

The men are also two of 18 charged in a 63-count indictment for gang-related activity including multiple counts of murder and weapons charges.

CNN is working to confirm the legal representation for the suspects.

Between May 2018 and September 2020, members of the Hoolies gang are accused of committing four murders and eight non-fatal shootings that involved nine victims, according to a new release from Gonzalez’s office. Seven of the 13 victims were innocent people who were not rivals of the gang, the release said.

“Insidious gang violence as we allege in this case has taken and traumatized far too many lives, including many innocents such as Davell Gardner – a bright and loved baby boy with his whole life ahead of him,” Gonzalez said.

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says the alleged gang members were willing to kill “without regard for innocent people caught in the crossfire.”

“This violence has to stop and cases like these are only made more solid when NYPD detectives and Assistant District Attorneys work hand-in-glove to build them from the beginning,” Shea said.

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May 9, 2024
Sweden’s prime minister summons police and army chiefs, as gang violence surges | CNN

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CNN
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Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he will meet the national army and police chiefs on Friday to combat a surge in gang violence, as the country reels from record shooting deaths this month.

“Tomorrow I will meet the national police chief and the commander in chief to see how the defense force can help the police in their work against the criminal gangs,” Kristersson said in an address to the nation on Thursday.

“I hope all parties in the Swedish parliament can come together in support of those strong and pattern-breaking actions that need to be taken.”

The Scandinavian nation has been rocked by a record number of shootings this month, amid a spread of gang violence from larger urban areas to smaller towns, Reuters reported.

There were 11 gun killings in September, making it the deadliest month since December 2019. Police said about 30,000 people in Sweden are directly involved with or have links to gang crime, according to the news agency.

On Wednesday, three people – two men and a woman – were killed in just 12 hours in incidents related to gang violence near the Swedish capital, Stockholm, Swedish police told CNN.

Children and innocent people are affected by the serious violence, Kristersson added.

“I can’t emphasize enough how serious the situation is. Sweden has never seen anything like it, no other country in Europe is experiencing anything like this,” the Swedish prime minister said.

“We will hunt the gangs, and we will defeat the gangs. We will take them to court. If they’re Swedish citizens they will be locked up for a long time in prison and if they are foreign citizens, they will also be expelled.”

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September 29, 2023
The shooting deaths of 3 missing rappers were ‘gang violence related,’ Michigan police say | CNN

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CNN
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The deaths of three Michigan rappers whose bodies were found in an abandoned apartment building in early February were related to gang violence, state police said, asking members of the public who might have information about the case to come forward.

In a series of tweets Friday, Michigan State Police confirmed they were continuing to investigate the triple homicide of Armani Kelly, 28; Dante Wicker, 31; and Montoya Givens, 31, who were reported missing after their January 21 performance at a Detroit club was canceled.

Their bodies were found almost two weeks later in the apartment complex in Highland Park, about 6 miles northwest of Detroit, and state police later said they each died of multiple gunshot wounds.

“This was a gang violence related incident,” Michigan State Police said on Twitter on Friday, addressing what it said were “rumors” circulating about the investigation. “This homicide was not random and had nothing to due (sic) with music or a performance.”

While no one is in custody, police said, “There are other people that know the details and we need them to come forward.”

“Together we can bring closure to these families,” state police said.

Police were first alerted to the men’s disappearances by Kelly’s mother, who reported him missing on January 23, Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department, previously said.

As the story of Kelly’s disappearance gained media attention, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.

The bodies were discovered February 2, in the complex police described as “rat infested.” Several days later, state police confirmed “this was not a random incident” and said investigators believed they had determined a motive.

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March 19, 2023
2 arrested in central California shooting that left 6 dead, including mother clutching 10-month-old son | CNN

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CNN
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Two suspects were taken into custody, one after a shootout, in a “cartel-style” massacre last month that left six people dead in central California, including a young mother and her 10-month-old son, authorities announced Friday.

The suspects, identified in charging documents as Angel Uriarte, 35, and Noah Beard, 25, are known members of the Norteño gang, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said during a news conference. He said the January 16 shooting was the likely result of a conflict with members of the Sureños, a rival gang.

“The suspects and the victims have a long history of gun violence, heavily active in guns, gang violence, gun violence, and narcotics dealings,” Boudreaux said, adding, “the motive is not exactly clear at this point.”

Authorities said Uriarte was injured in a shootout with ATF agents before he was taken into custody. He is hospitalized, and in stable condition, according to ATF Acting Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson. Beard was taken into custody without incident.

Beard is accused of killing 16-year-old Alissa Parraz and her 10-month-old son, Nycholas, as they fled the overnight shooting at a home in Goshen, a farming community about 30 miles southeast of Fresno. Authorities showed surveillance video Friday showing the young mother lifting her son over a fence and climbing over. Both were found dead in the street outside the home.

Along with the mother and her son, the four other victims were identified as Marcos Parraz, 19; Eladio Parraz, 52; Alissa’s grandmother, Rosa Parraz, 72; and Jennifer Analla, 49.

Boudreaux said all the victims died of gunshot wounds, most were shot in the head, including the 10-month-old boy.

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“This was clearly not a random act of violence. This family was targeted by coldblooded killers,” Boudreaux said.

The arrests were part of a multiagency effort dubbed Operation Nightmare, which included searches of several California prisons and 24/7 surveillance of the suspects over the last 10 days. DNA left at the scene was credited with quickly leading law enforcement to zero in on the pair.

Uriarte and Beard are each facing six counts of murder, according to Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward, along with enhancements relating to the use of a firearm, and that the acts were committed in participation of a criminal street gang. The suspects may eventually face the death penalty if convicted.

CNN is trying to determine if both suspects have legal representation.

The massacre came before a series of back-to-back mass shootings in California late last month, including an attack during a Lunar New Year Celebration in suburban Monterey Park, just west of Los Angeles. That shooting on January 21 left 11 people dead.

Another attack on January 23 left four dead at a California mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay. That night, another shooting, this time in Oakland, left one dead and seven others injured.

Mass shootings are ‘uniquely American experience,’ Dem Senator says

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February 5, 2023
6 people, including a baby, were killed in a ‘massacre’ that is likely gang-related, California sheriff’s office says | CNN

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CNN
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At least six people, including a mother and her 6-month-old baby, are dead after an “early morning massacre” Monday in the town of Goshen, California, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.

Tulare County deputies responded to a call of shots fired just after 3:30 a.m. local time Monday, the sheriff’s office said in a news release, adding, “The reporting party thought an active shooter was in the area because of the amount of shots being heard.”

Responding deputies found six victims total, including two who were in the street and one who was in the doorway of the home where the gunfire occurred, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters at the scene. The mother, who was 17, and the child were both shot in the head, he said, and among the victims was at least one man who was taken to the hospital but later pronounced dead.

“We do have family that has been escorted from the scene, we do have survivors,” Boudreaux said, saying investigators had yet to determine how they survived what he said was a “horrific massacre.”

The attack does not appear to be a random act of violence but may be linked to gang activity, the sheriff’s office said, noting it comes a week after deputies executed a narcotics search warrant at the home.

Detectives are looking for at least two suspects, the sheriff’s office said.

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January 16, 2023
Critical Haiti gas terminal freed after weeks of talks with G9 gang leader | CNN

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CNN
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Haitian authorities say they have regained control of the main gas terminal in capital city Port-au-Prince, ending a gang stranglehold on the vital energy facility.

The news follows two weeks of negotiation with Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier to relinquish control of the Varreux terminal, according to Haitian politician Dr. Harrison Ernest, who met with both Cherizier and the Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Chérizier, also known as “Barbecue,” is the leader of G9, a federation of over a dozen Haitian gangs based in Port-au-Prince.

“I talked to Barbeque and told them to leave the terminal because the kids need to go back to school. And we urged the government to do their part to make sure there is fuel and the fuel need to reach the customer,” said Ernest, a Haitian doctor and politician from the country’s Konstwi Lavi party.

Konstwi Lavi has been “playing the role of mediator between the government and the gang who blocked the gas terminal,” Ernest added.

“We’ve been working for two weeks with the government and the gangs to unblock the fuel.”

Haiti’s government has denied that it negotiated with G9 to reopen the gas terminal, though an adviser to Henry told CNN that the Caribbean nation’s leader did meet with Ernest.

“We don’t deal with gangs and we don’t negotiate with gangs, we want schools to reopen and to revive the economic activities as soon as possible. The Prime Minister met with (Ernest) but they did not engage in any negotiations with gangs on our behalf,” said special advisor Jean Junior Joseph.

Haiti National Police spokesperson Gary Desrosiers also confirmed that the Varreux terminal is now under police control. The terminal, located in southwest Port-au-Prince, supplies most of the oil in Haiti. It has been blocked by G9 gang members for the past six weeks, choking off access to fuel in the country.

G9 abandoned Varreux terminal over the weekend, one high-level security source told CNN.

But fuel relief for greater Haiti remains in the distance as terminal access roads are still blocked by shipping containers and other obstacles.

Some Haiti National Police armored vehicles have been seen in the area around Varreux, but so far no movement of trucks and or employee presence at the terminal for operations to resume, the source said.

Haiti’s government asked for international military assistance almost a month ago as it grappled with interlocked health, energy, and security issues.

Anti-government protests have also paralyzed the country, with schools, businesses, and public transportation across the country mostly shuttered.

Since August 22, Haitians have been demonstrating against chronic gang violence, poverty, food insecurity, inflation, and fuel shortages.

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November 4, 2022
Haitian politician shot dead, as violent gangs and political turmoil push country to the ‘edge of collapse’ | CNN

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CNN
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A Haitian politician has been shot dead outside his home, authorities have said, as international concerns intensify over the gang violence, political turmoil and humanitarian crises that have seized control of the country.

Eric Jean Baptiste was killed on Friday night outside his home in the capital Port-au-Prince, local police told CNN.

He was the leader of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats Party (RNDP), a minor political party in Haiti, and launched a longshot presidential bid in 2016.

A security guard was also killed in the attack, the police spokesperson said. Baptiste survived an earlier attempt on his life in 2018, escaping with a bullet wound.

The assassination is the latest killing in a country overtaken by violent gangs, and comes a year after the nation’s serving President Jovenel Moise was murdered. Port-au-Prince was the site of brutal gang battles this summer that saw whole neighborhoods set aflame, displacing thousands of families and trapping others in their homes, afraid to leave even in search of food and water.

The number of Haitians displaced by recent gang-related violence in the capital has tripled in the past five months, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

The IOM report said more than 113,000 people were internally displaced from Port-au-Prince between June and August this year, with nearly 90,000 of them due to “urban violence linked to inter-gang, gang-police, and social conflicts.”

Criminals still control or influence parts of the country’s most populous city, and kidnappings for ransom threaten residents’ day-to-day movements. In recent weeks, demonstrators in several cities called for Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation in the face of high fuel prices, soaring inflation and unchecked crime.

Earlier this month, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called an “absolutely nightmarish situation” in Haiti with gangs blocking the movement of fuel and other materials in the Port-au-Prince harbor. The country is facing a humanitarian crisis, while a cholera outbreak has also left dozens dead.

Haiti’s Ambassador to the US Bocchit Edmond told CNN Friday that the government will call democratic elections if the international community intervenes with military assistance in the country.

“It’s very important for all Haitians to work together… and while we are getting help from our international partners, that we make sure to prepare to have free and fair democratic elections. Because it is the most important thing… to have democratic institutions stand up again,” Edmond said, describing Haiti as a country “on the edge of collapse.”

“Before getting to elections, we need to restore law and order. And our national police itself cannot… because the gangs are well armed and their firepower is far more superior… we need international assistance,” the diplomat recently told CNN’s Sara Sidner.

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October 29, 2022