Los Angeles Tackles Growing Gang Violence

Their city once spawned the Crips and the Bloods. Now the authorities of Los Angeles fear the bad old days of gang warfare are returning, and some warn of a "race war" between Latino and African-American street gangs.

A series of shootings in an area south of Los Angeles called Harbor Gateway has outraged residents and prompted action from city and federal authorities and community groups. In December, 14-year-old Cheryl Green was with friends in Harbor Gateway. The African-American girl was allegedly shot by members of the Latino 204th Street Gang. Police called it racially motivated because Cheryl had crossed into an area the gang claimed as territory.

Five days later, nine-year-old Charupha Wongwisetsiri was killed in her kitchen by a stray bullet from a gang fight in the Angelino Heights area of the city.

Overall crime rates are falling in the city, but gang-related offences rose by 14% last year, and by 25% in the city centre.

Last week, the FBI's director, Robert Mueller, joined the city's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, and police chief, William Bratton, to announce a crackdown on gang violence. The same day community activists announced that a truce had been agreed between the biggest gangs.

But a 34-year-old African-American man was shot by several Latino men, say witnesses, on Saturday night in his car in Harbor Gateway. "Los Angeles, for better or worse, is ground zero for modern gang activities," Mr Mueller said.

There are an estimated 700 gangs with 40,000 members in Los Angeles, about four for each police officer.

"It's too big, it's too entrenched," Malcolm Klein, a gang expert at the University of Southern California, told AP. "You can reduce it. But the idea you can somehow eliminate it is ridiculous."