Sunday, August 3, 2008

The War in Los Angeles

More evidence today that there's a war going on in Los Angeles as serious as any in Baghdad, Karachi, or Tijuana.

LA County Sheriff Deputy Juan Abel Escalante was shot and killed at 5:40 am as he left for work in the Cypress Park neighborhood of East Los Angeles on Saturday, August 2.

He was a responsible, serious young man, married and the father of three young children. After returning from military service, he had been a sheriff for just 2 1/2 years.

The LA Times describes "a fragile lull in gang violence in recent years" in his neighborhood, which ended in January with more shooting. In February a shooting a few blocks from his home "touched off a fierce gun battle between gang members and police in neighboring Glassell Park," followed in June by "a massive gang raid" conducted by police and federal agents a mile north of the home where Escalante and his family lived with his parents.

He and his wife were about to buy a home in suburban Pomona.

She ran out to the street screaming, "My husband! My husband!" She's now a widow with three children and no way to move out of the neighborhood.

Escalante was the oldest son of parents who had immigrated to Los Angeles from the state of Yucatan in Mexico.

Why was he targeted? Was it his work at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles? Or was he simply picked off as one of the enemy--a deputy sheriff?

"If someone here knew he was a sheriff, it's kind of like a trophy to kill one of them," a neighbor said.

He was not wearing a uniform when he left for work that morning--he kept a low-profile in the community about what type of work he did.

In March 2006 another LA County deputy, Maria Cecilia Rosa, was killed on an early morning in Long Beach as she left for work.

Underneath the glamour of Hollywood and wealth of "The Hills," a war continues over control of LA streets and drug trade.

In nearby Tijuana, Mexico, police appear to be losing their battle to keep the streets safe. Officers have been shot in their cars and in their homes.

In Baghdad and Karachi, killings abound; government is unable to assert authority.

Perhaps this is a hallmark of the 21st century: increasing failure of organized government in the face of growing power of gangs and warlords.

See also:
"Deputy shot dead outside his Cypress Park home," August 3, 2008, http://www.latimes.com/.

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