POLICE BATTLING SHOOTING SPREE

Gunfire Has Killed One, Injured 10 Since Early October

A rash of daytime drug- and vengeance-fueled shootings in East Palo Alto
since early October has left 10 people injured and one man dead.

"We have a couple little wars going on," East Palo Alto Police Chief Wes
Bowling said Thursday.

He said his department this week had added patrol shifts and was also
drawing on state parole and San Mateo County sheriff's office personnel to
deal with the problem.

By police count, there have been 14 shootings since the beginning of
October, including some where homes were hit, but not people. Four shooting
victims were 20 or younger. Tomas Lozano, 25, of East Palo Alto was the
crime spate's sole fatality. He was shot several times on Cooley Avenue on
Oct. 20 and died from his wounds.

The spike in violence has alarmed many East Palo Alto residents, who say
the incidents appear to involve teens and occur during the day, where
shootings in the past seemed to concern mainly adults and occurred at night.

"It used to be in certain areas where you would know are heavily involved
in drugs," said one resident, who asked not to be named because she feared
retribution. "Now there's just no regard as to where. . . . Now it's
morning, noon and night and everything."

Investigators say gang ties have played a role in some of the shootings,
but that none of the participants are members of large, well-known gangs,
such as the Nortenos and Surenos. Many belong to smaller street-by-street
groups, Bowling said.

"These are just individuals that have an alliance with each other and
everybody's shooting everybody else," he said.

Police believe at least three shootings came in retaliation for the June
death of Lisa Juarez Hernandez, a pregnant 19-year-old who was gunned down
in front of a convenience store. A Menlo Park man, Dontae McCoy Hurd, 19,
was arrested and charged with killing Hernandez. He has pleaded not guilty.

Other shootings are drug-related, Bowling said. The victims are either
buyers who were robbed, or dealers fighting over a dwindling supply.

Buyers who flash money around during deals are often robbed, such as the
22-year-old Hayward man shot Nov. 1 while allegedly buying pot, Bowling said.

Because the East Palo Alto police and the sheriff's Crime Suppression Unit
have cracked down on corner sellers since summer, Bowling believes dealers
are battling over what's left of the drug supply.

Investigators don't know why so many of the shooters seem to be in their
teens, but Bowling suspects older dealers are recruiting young people to do
their bidding.

Police haven't made any arrests in connection with the recent shootings,
and rely mainly on witnesses because victims are frequently uncooperative.
So Bowling hopes the public continues to call when they witness crimes, and
to pass along descriptions, even if it's to an anonymous tip line.

The public is invited to discuss the issue at a community meeting Tuesday
at 6 p.m. at the Creative Montessori Learning Center, 1425 Bay Road.

"This type of violence is now the exception, not the rule, and we are not
going to let this go back to the way things were a decade ago," Bowling
said. In 1992, the small city had the highest homicide rate per capita in
the country. The crime rate has drastically decreased since then.