Carr fueled by hope, prayer

Under a warm summer-night sky, hundreds recently packed Hubert Humphrey Park in Pacoima, enjoying themselves less than two blocks from where a teenager was shot to death earlier this year in one of the San Fernando Valley's most notoriously violent communities. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

It was a small miracle, a triumph against violence, and the Rev. Jeff Carr - the city's first anti-gang czar - knew it. He basked in the success that evening, July 23.

Then came the call from a gang-intervention worker. An 8-year-old girl had been shot to death as she played behind iron gates in front of her South Los Angeles home.