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34 Shootings In Bloody Los Angeles Week: Chief Blames 'Too Many Guns'

Patch 4/20/2022 Paige Austin

Resident Laquincy Zimmerman shows her bullet-ridden home in Los Angeles, Monday, April 11, 2022. Authorities say several people were killed and wounded in a weekend shooting. Zimmerman said her son was among those shot.

© AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes Resident Laquincy Zimmerman shows her bullet-ridden home in Los Angeles, Monday, April 11, 2022. Authorities say several people were killed and wounded in a weekend shooting. Zimmerman said her son was among those shot.

LOS ANGELES, CA — Thirty-four people were shot in Los Angeles last week, a bloody spike in what is already shaping up to be a violent month and year in the City of Angels, according to authorities.

The bulk of the shootings — 23 — of them occurred in a "remarkably small area" of the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street and Southeast divisions, Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission Tuesday. Moore called last week a "troubling week," in a year when violent crime has increased 7.1% year-to-date. So far this year, the LAPD has responded to 575 more violent crimes than this time last year.

Barely halfway through the month, 70 people have already been shot in Los Angeles, up from 55 during the same period last year. There have been 107 homicides so far in 2022, while at this point in 2021 there were 109. While the number has decreased slightly in 2022, Moore said it represents a 37% increase over a two-year period. Overall, violent crime — aggravated assaults, street robberies, and commercial robberies — have climbed 15.2 percent over a two-year period.

At the same time, the prevalence of follow-home robberies has also led to a rise in high-profile attacks in Los Angeles neighborhoods that traditionally have lower crime rates.

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In the past, bursts of violence in extremely concentrated areas and timespans have been tied to gang wars. Though Moore linked the spate of shootings last week to disputes within and between rival gangs, he stopped short of describing the extreme violence as a war.

The police department's 77th Division includes Athens Park, Chesterfield Square, Gramercy Park, Hyde Park, South Park-51st and Menlo, Vermont Knolls, Vermont Park, View Heights, Morningside Park and West Park Terrace. The Southeast Division includes Athens Park, Avalon Gardens, Hacienda Village, Harbor Gateway, Imperial Courts, Gardena Boulevard, Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens, Parkside Manor and Watts.

Additional LAPD patrols and engagement teams with the Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development Program were deployed to the area, according to Moore, who added that violence levels decreased on Saturday and Sunday and no further shootings were reported in the Southeast area.

"The problem that we have throughout Los Angeles is too many guns in too many hands," Moore said, reiterating a belief he frequently shares with the commission. The added enforcement in the 77th Street Division resulted in 16 gun arrests involving 20 firearms, including "a number of assault rifles," Moore said.

Moore said that overall in April, the city has seen an increase in shooting violence and homicides, which "somewhat bucks the trend that we saw in the first three months of 2022," when shootings decreased compared to the previous year.

City News Service

The article 34 Shootings In Bloody Los Angeles Week: Chief Blames 'Too Many Guns' appeared first on Los Angeles Patch.

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