GANG VIOLENCE INTOLERABLE

This weekend's bloodbath at a downtown hip-hop club that left three
people dead, brought Edmonton's murder toll to 32 - on pace to break
last year's grim record of 39 killings.

Three men were gunned down Sunday at the Red Light Lounge. Four others
were wounded.

Late yesterday police were still looking for a suspect.

While that manhunt continued, it seemed there was almost as much talk
about whether this atrocity had links to gangs.

A couple of decades ago, I had a similar debate with police brass any
time a bloody high-profile hit occurred. Back then, police denied
gangs existed here.

I've never understood the cops' rationale. If they'd 'fessed up back
then to a burgeoning problem, it would have fuelled a case for more
resources to tackle the spreading cancer.

Well, flash forward a couple of decades and it's now painfully
apparent we have a horrific gang problem. Indeed, almost 40% of the
slayings in 2004 and 2005 were gang related.

This year, the spate of gang-related slaughters continued, including
the Sept. 9 killing of 23-year-old Lilly Duong who was fatally shot
while driving a flashy Mercedes.

Yet, there's still much discussion over whether these killings were
gang-related.

Police first speculated it was. But Monday, acting Chief Mike Bradshaw
downplayed it. "The early indications are that this may not be
gang-related," said Bradshaw. "This, to me, is a random, senseless act
of violence."

To me, that's even more terrifying. Yesterday, police spokesman Jeff
Wuite said the possibility the shooting was gang-related "is still
open ... very much so." That jives with what Sun reporter Max Maudie
was told by a source. The source said one victim, Jacey Pinnock, was
accidentally killed by a gang-affiliated friend after Pinnock got into
an argument with someone else at the club.

So what's a gang-related murder and what's not?

I ran this example by a couple of police officials: If I'm a
gun-carrying gangster who shoots and kills someone who stole my
parking spot, that would not be a gang-related crime.

It would be, though, if I were a gangster who killed a rival over a
meth-deal-gone bad. "Just because gang members are involved in a crime
doesn't mean it's motivated by gang-related activities," explained
Wuite.

Whatever. The bottom line here is our city can no longer tolerate this
kind of brutality and every citizen and law enforcement official must
help stop it.

Let's quit talking semantics and start talking solutions. We have a
problem with gangs and violence.

Our murder rate is virtually twice the rate in Calgary which had 23
killings last year, five of which were linked to gangs. Cowtown's had
20 murders this year - two related to gangs.

Witnesses are petrified to come forward but they must if we're to ever
quell this bloodshed. Of the seven gang-related slayings in Edmonton
this year, none has been solved, said Wuite.

At the same time, police have to earn the trust of scared citizens and
ensure nobody who comes forward ever gets exposed as a rat. Police
have to ensure they provide solid protection to folks brave enough to
do the right thing.

Cops have to step up the pressure against known criminals bold enough
to casually carry guns to nightclubs. Police must use every means they
can to get better intelligence on gangs.

Most of all, we citizens have to fight against thugs ruining our
once-peaceful city. That fight could entail everything from giving
cops info on some scumbag, pressuring politicians to get tougher on
crime or pushing the feds to more carefully screen the people we let
into this country.