NEIGHBORHOOD ON EDGE

RIALTO - Tensions are running high on the narrow street where a Rialto
SWAT officer was killed during a drug sweep on Thursday.

Gunfire erupted as four officers sought to serve a search warrant on the
West Cascade Drive apartment of of Kris Antonio Wiggins, who neighbors
know as Jaranard Thomas or "BeDuke."

According to police, Rialto police Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. was killed
Thursday morning as another officer struggled with Wiggins in his apartment.

On Friday and Saturday, residents said they were concerned Carrera's death
will result in more intense police action in their neighborhood.

"There ain't no relationship with the police that patrol here to begin
with," said resident Mel Schaefer. "Now, it's going to get bad because one
of theirs got killed here."

Rialto police Chief Mark Kling said narcotics sales and violence have
spiked in the area, but he thinks that the Police Department is making an
impact on the street.

"Actually I think it is improving, (but) the calls for service are still
there," he said.

Police have released few details on Wiggins' altercation with officers,
but a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said
Friday that Wiggins' actions caused Carrera's death.

While law enforcement officials have stopped short of accusing Wiggins of
pulling the trigger, Kling stated firmly in his press conference that
Carrera was not shot by another officer.

Cascade Drive residents refuse to believe Wiggins shot a police officer.

They described Wiggins as a caretaker on West Cascade Drive, regularly
barbecuing for everyone on the street and running off troublemakers who
linger too close to his family.

Police raided his home Thursday after a confidential informant bought rock
cocaine there, according to court documents.

Wiggins also is wanted on suspicion of selling cocaine in Mississippi,
sheriff's officials said.

Residents and friends of Wiggins grappled to comprehend the tragedy of
what had happened two days earlier.

"He's not no ... gangbanger," said Jessie Harris, 39, of Hesperia. "He'd
sell meals every Friday and Saturday and use the money to buy food for
kids on the street. We'd lift weights on his back patio."

Charvette McGee, 27, still wondered why cops had slammed through her
apartment front door that fateful day. McGee's home was one of the four
raided Thursday morning.

She said she had no drugs or weapons that day, or, any day, for that
matter. The police left empty-handed.

"It was weird," said McGee, whose home is across the street from Wiggins.
"I said to one of the officers, 'Why are you in my house?' "

The officer replied that an informant had pegged McGee as a drug dealer,
she explained.

"I said, 'You're sure you're talking about me?'" McGee said.

McGee said she is a meat cutter at a local market, not a drug peddler. She
lives with her three children, ages 8, 4 and 11 months, her brother 22,
who plays football at San Bernardino Valley College, and her
17-year-old sister.

At first, she was upset that the police had broken down her door. But when
an officer mentioned that a Rialto cop had just died in another raid, "I
just let them do their job. I felt badly."

As she reflected for a moment, her head swayed to the left and right
slowly. Her lips pursed.

"I just don't understand where their information came from," she said.

Others were more angry than confused.

Joseph Pruett, a neighbor, wore his security guard uniform as the
early-afternoon sun blistered the area.

"I got nothing against cops," he said.

But the officers at the scene acted unprofessionally, he said. His
daughter had been snapping photographs from her bedroom window with his
new digital camera, but one officer confiscated it.

"They said it was evidence," Pruett said. "They said I might be able to
get it back."

Although neighbors are clearly frustrated with the lack of answers coming
from police, they were sobered by the thought that an officer was killed
on their block.

On Saturday, there was no memorial on the street for the slain officer,
though residents admitted there would be one if one of their own had been
killed.

"Look, I feel condolences for the man's family," said one 33-year-old
resident who gave only his first name, Anthony, for fear of retribution
from police.

"But you've got to understand that when police come out here, it's always
just to bust down your door or treat you with disrespect when you're just
walking down the street," Anthony said, his 5-year-old daughter at his side.

Neighbors say patrol cars already creep up and down West Cascade, flashing
spotlights into homes and harassing anybody outside. Several asserted that
police rarely find criminal activity.

"They're in here every day like there's something big going on," said
resident Merle Lucas. "There's not."

Many described the area as poor but proper, with violence and overt gang
activity rare.

The Rialto Unified School District office is a block away. Several strip
malls are within walking distance.

Graffiti is not as pervasive in the alleys and lots around the street as
it is in some other parts of the city.

Yet piles of discarded fast-food bags and papers clutter the streets and a
few lawns, and homeless men root through parking lot trash bins for scraps
of food or cast-off treasures.

While some residents acknowledged that drug dealers make their rounds,
they said that overall it's a safe place for kids, some of whom scampered
around the street Friday.

Others were not so optimistic.

"There is a lot of drugs," on West Cascade, said one 16-year-old girl.
"The people who live here aren't very responsible."

Jason Pesick contributed to this report.