Gang activity is on the rise again

Lights flashing and sirens wailing, Seattle police flooded Westlake Center on Friday for yet another reported shooting in the city.

In the end, officers detained four young people and found a large revolver that one detective called a "Dirty Harry gun," for the weapon made famous by the Clint Eastwood film character of the same name.

		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	A Seattle Police Department bicycle officer, left, and Detective Miko Santiago, right, talk with four suspects after a shooting near Westlake Center on Friday.

Gang Unit Sgt. Jim Dyment wouldn't say the shooting itself was gang-related, but he said at least one of those detained knew him by name and the youth's usual hangout was in a Central Area neighborhood popular with one gang.

"It never stops," said Gang Unit Detective Bobby Sevaaetasi, shortly after hauling the suspects to the West Precinct.

After what seemed to be a slowdown in gang-related violence in recent years, drive-by shootings and assaults began to surge in 2006 and continue to be a problem this year, police say. While many have been concentrated in the Central District, Friday's shooting demonstrated that the violence can happen anywhere.

"I think we're gonna find it's going to be a busy summer," Seattle police Gang Unit supervisor Lt. Ron Wilson said. "I think it's picking up now."

That increase has come despite some recent high-profile crackdowns, such as the arrests by local and federal authorities in May of nearly 50 men, many of them alleged to be gang members, on various drug charges.

Hoping to give the handful of Gang Unit detectives more time on the streets, homicide detectives have been tapped to follow up on cases that would normally bog down gang detectives.

"It's giving us ample time to hit the streets and be more visible," said Detective Miko Santiago, a former Army military policeman and 12-year veteran of the Gang Unit.

Seattle's Gang Unit was formed in the 1980s when gang crime seemed to be epidemic. But as the level of violence waned, so too did the unit. At one time numbering more than 25 detectives, it has just six detectives now and a sergeant.

Gang investigators point out that not every case they handle is gang-related. Still, their caseload hit nearly 150 in 2003, but by 2005 was fewer than 100. It began to climb again last year.

Investigators say a number of factors are contributing to the recent increase in gang violence -- older gangsters released from prison looking to reassert their authority, fights over drug turf and a settling of scores over offenses real and perceived.

For a time, gangs from Seattle's south seemed to be fighting those from the Central Area. But a recent series of shootings seems tied to an ongoing feud between two rival Central Area gangs, authorities say.

"We're having shooting after shooting after shooting between these two groups," said Lt. Dave Emerick, who supervises the Homicide Unit.

On May 12, there was a shooting at 28th Avenue South and South Jackson Street. Just a few hours later, another shooting happened near 19th Avenue and East Alder Street.

Gang investigators believed the latter one was retaliation for the first.

"You got in-house fighting going," said Gabe Morales, an expert on local gangs. "That's what's going on these last few months in the Central District."

Because the rivalry is between specific groups, some of the shootings have happened in the same areas, favored hangouts of some of the gang members involved.

More than one have taken place along the 300 block of 19th Avenue. On June 1, the bullets flew again in the neighborhood.

The targets of the gunman, firing from a blue Dodge Neon, were the people gathered outside a two-story home on 19th near Alder.

One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, heard the gunfire and the screaming at about 3:40 p.m., but said shootings have become so common, she was barely startled, simply opening her door to find out what was behind the commotion.

"Most of the time, you can't really tell it's gunfire," she said. "I saw the car, the windows were shattered and so I thought, 'Oh, yeah, someone must have shot the car.' "

No one was hurt in the shooting, though bullets tore into a garage, a living room couch and a car. Police held two men for questioning, but there were no arrests.

The neighbor's nonchalance isn't from lack of concern, but frustration over the ongoing problem and apparent inability of police to do much about it.

"One night," she said, "I looked out and saw sparks, the light from the gun being shot off."

Because so much of the violence involves young African American men it has the attention of many prominent black leaders in the community.

The Rev. Harriet Walden has been raising the issue of black on black crime since 1999, through her Web site, silentwar.org.

"We need law enforcement, but this is an issue that the black community will have to solve," Walden said. "It's imperative that we let our young people know that being part of a gang, using violence, is not OK."

Gene Rivers, an artist who has lived most of his 62 years in the Central Area, said gang violence and shootings have been an unfortunate part of the neighborhood for several years.

"I couldn't say if it's gotten worse," he said. "I'm sure of one thing, it hasn't gotten better."

Still, he hasn't given up on the neighborhood and has no desire to move. He regularly goes with new friends on litter round-ups, sometimes asking people who are drinking or doing drugs to move aside so he can pick up discarded beer bottles.

At night, he still hears the shootings.

"It's been going on for a very long, long time," he said.