DO GANGS HAVE CITY UNDER SIEGE?

Outbreak Of Street Violence Unlikely To Last, Experts Say

Since Nov. 30, Winnipeg police have been kept hopping invest gating
seven gang-related shootings in the city's core.

Most recently, a 19-year-old man was shot in the shoulder early Sunday
morning as he walked along Flora Avenue.

He remains in hospital.

Police attribute the shootings to a turf war over the city's cocaine
trade.

Gordon said the incidents in Winnipeg are a "classic example of sabre
rattling" by members of different gangs attempting to gain control of
a particular area.

He speculated the violence may also be related to Winnipeg gang
members attempting to create strategic allegiances with other more
powerful gangs like the Hells Angels who recently set up shop in the
city.

"Once they resolve the dispute things will probably quiet down for a
while,'' he said.

Because of the variety of charges that can be laid in incidents
involving firearms, police say it's difficult to compare this month's
spate of shootings with other time periods. But they say December has
been particularly violent.

IS Winnipeg really under siege by the perpetrators of street
shootings?

Not according to the experts. They predict the gang-related violence
that has struck fear into many in the city and made headlines for most
of December will soon fade from public view.

"I think this will pass fairly quickly,'' said Doug Skoog, criminology
professor at the University of Winnipeg. "These things usually have a
fairly short life span.

But a decline in street violence would not mean the gang problem has
disappeared.

"You've basically got 16- to 21-year-old men with testosterone pouring
out of them. It's exciting for them to get together with their buddies
in a car at night and go looking for so-and-so to put a few rounds in
their car. The attraction is amazing, but they do tend to eventually
work themselves out."

Dr. Robert Gordon, a criminology expert from Simon Fraser University
in Burnaby, B.C., said while Winnipeg's public gang dispute is
frightening for residents, it doesn't compare to the bloodshed and
violence experienced in other cities in the country.

For example, between December 1999 and February of this year, at least
eight people with links to Asian gangs were killed in the Vancouver
area.

In Montreal -- home of the deadly Rock Machine and Hells Angels
motorcycle gang feud -- police estimate there have been 150
gang-related deaths since 1995, including the death of 11-year-old
Daniel Desrochers in a car-bomb attack.

Since Nov. 30, Winnipeg police have been kept hopping investigating
seven gang-related shootings in the city's core.

Most recently, a 19-year-old man was shot in the shoulder early Sunday
morning as he walked along Flora Avenue.

He remains in hospital.

Police attribute the shootings to a turf war over the city's cocaine
trade.

Gordon said the incidents in Winnipeg are a "classic example of sabre
rattling" by members of different gangs attempting to gain control of
a particular area.

He speculated the violence may also be related to Winnipeg gang
members attempting to create strategic allegiances with other more
powerful gangs like the Hells Angels who recently set up shop in the
city.

"Once they resolve the dispute things will probably quiet down for a
while,'' he said.

Because of the variety of charges that can be laid in incidents
involving firearms, police say it's difficult to compare this month's
spate of shootings with other time periods. But they say December has
been particularly violent.

"We've never seen anything quite like this before. Certainly, it's an
alarming situation," police spokesman Const. Bob Johnson said.

There have been no large thefts of firearms in the city recently to
explain the increased use of guns in gang activity, except for one on
Mountain Avenue last month, he said. Those weapons were quickly
recovered in a raid on a home in North Kildonan.

Johnson said the recent spate of shootings has given police a better
idea of the types and numbers of guns on the street. Solving the
shootings is a top priority, he said.

While most experts agree the gang violence in the city will probably
wane in coming days, it will continue to lurk below the surface.

"Most of the time organized crime is invisible,'' said Insp.
Rene-Pierre Tremblay of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada.
"The public display of violence at the street level may come and go
but the problem still exists."

Glenn Cochrane, director of the street-gang prevention program for
Thunderbird House, said he warned justice officials last summer that
an increased level of gang violence was on the horizon.

"I warned them. They didn't listen to me and boom: Look, it's
happening."

He warned again yesterday that unless more is done to help kids get
out and stay out of gangs, the violence will continue to resurface and
innocent people could be caught in the crossfire.