Yakima police crack down on gangs

Yakima police have temporarily reassigned 20 officers to crack down on gang violence, following two recent shootings that injured innocent bystanders.

Up to six officers per shift have been bolstering regular patrols in a 60-block area since Thursday, police Chief Sam Granato said Monday. Many of the officers are from the city's traffic division, which Granato said should keep overtime costs to a minimum.

The operation already has resulted in the arrests of at least four gang members on warrants, he said.

Granato said no timetable has been set for the duration of the crackdown.

"As long as it takes," he said.

Since May 7, there have been at least six gang shootings in the city, including the fatal May 18 shooting of 20-year-old Leonardo A. Perez. Police say shootings in the city began to escalate after his death.

In one case, 13-year-old Yaneli Ramirez was hit in the abdomen when bullets were fired into her home. That attack has baffled authorities, who have described the girl's family as unconnected with gangs.

A week later, a stray bullet fired in a gang fight June 7 struck a 23-year-old Michigan woman visiting family.

Marie Richmond, of Lansing, Mich., questions why the city's elected officials don't seem more outraged about gang violence.

"It seems like one of council members' goals should be to stop the gang violence," she told the Yakima Herald-Republic. "They should protect the actual citizens who've always lived here. My grandma has been in that house forever."

The bullet struck an artery in Richmond's thigh, and she was at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center for three days. The married homemaker and mother of two says she is uncertain how she will pay her medical bills once she returns home.

Police on Monday appealed to the public for help in locating a man sought in that case, Jesus G. Cazarez, 18, a reputed gang member.

---

Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, http://www.yakima-herald.com