Horrific. Note no mention of race, and no automatic assumption of gang event--we draw our own conclusions. I like that. Facts, not assumptions.

I think some reporters could take a lesson.

Frank,
Kudos for addressing the tragedy of young, San Gabriel Valley residents being murdered no more than 3 miles from your paper's HQ. I sometimes wonder if your HQ's location, tucked out of sight and out of mind, stood as a metaphor for the papers' relationship to the community.

Granted, we know the paper is connected to the local business community, political scenes and police departments, but only seldom do we see concerned expressed for the people of the SGV...especially, young Latino males...as they are mostly portrayed and perceived as being thuggish and/or illegal.

Yeah right us. A gangster being killed is no tragedy to me, the more the better. They are mentioned as thuggish when they act like these shooters did. How would you describe these animals.

They are portrayed as illegal about as often as those who disagree with your line of thought are described as racist for simply seeing the obvious that you can't man up to due to your own refusal to be honest about it.

Based on location and last name I'll take a wild guess in my own mind as to the race of the shooters and victims in this story. It's not like they're no clues present.

A bigger question to someone like us is this. I don't know your family situation but if you had teen kids, and let me take a wild guess that you're Latino, and they're standing in front of your house and people like this roll up and say and do what these "....ing animals did", how would you feel?

More importantly is that outside the realm of possibility? The biggest tragedy of all is that due to skin color or location of your home something like this could happen to anyones child. Apologists for gangs have helped this continue.

Local Boy

Re. the May day protest in McArthur Park last year...(from MALDEF)excerpt:
"class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) arguing that police officers violated the First Amendment rights of demonstrators and inflicted severe injuries on the peaceful demonstrators, including the elderly and young children. The City has yet to negotiate a fair settlement in this case. Just last week, the City Council approved contracting with nine law firms to represent the LAPD in the lawsuit. The hiring of so many law firms will undoubtedly incur great costs, as well as potentially delay any settlement outcome."

You're right apologists for gang behavior contribute as much as apologists for the acts of the sanctioned gang.

Nobody in law enforcement condoned the actions of LAPD in McArthur Park last year M.H. now did they? Bratton publicly apologized, some supervisors were disciplined and officers and supervisors were taken out of assignments. Who started that fracas M.H. , criminal elements within the demonstrator groups or the cops. Try checking the facts before you respond.

Who got caught up in the poor response by the officers, some innocent protesters who are now suing but as a matter of federal law many shouldn't even be here in the first place. Side step that with your lame ass libewral bs but that's what you call a fact.

Since L.A. lays itself wide open as a sanctuary city we can not pay off some of those people. Happy about that? I know you are.

You don't know anything about LAPD or law enforcement period. Your last remark shows you once again to be the weak liberal big mouth you show to people with all your posts.

Local Boy

Why get mad at me? I'm just the messenger.

Calling LAPD a gang shows your lack of class M.H. Your comments about cops in general show a deep rooted dislike for them. Call one of the McArthur Park reporters next time you really need a man or woman in blue. I'm sure they'll do a better job.

I think you do more to disparage police in your comments. More damage that you may think. I hold nothing but respect and compassion for anyone that has to do that job. I have just seen the other side, that's all. Carry on, as is your right.

Please, point out those comments for me. I don't know what "other side" you've seen but you sure talk more about that than your...
"respect and compassion for anyone that has to do that job".

By the way, I don't pretend to represent how all officers feel, I just post how I feel. Knowing many cops though I'm sure the overwhelming majority would agree with what I post. They don't live in some type of fairy tale world, they deal with the reality of people who behave badly every day.

I live in "the reality of people who behave badly every day", too.

A recent missive from LAist cites KCBS reporting this:

"A man who tried to get away from Transit Sheriff's Deputies on a Metrolink Train yesterday was shot at, but not hit. Police were checking fares in Norwalk when one man split after the train doors opened."

What do think of that? Think that's a good thing for officers to have a hair trigger like that? If they are of a mindset that believes *everyone is guilty they just haven't been caught yet* which I know is stereotypical of LE. It's changing with new leadership, education, and training.

Just a second. Unlike your "rush to judgment approach" I'm wiser than to comment on a few lines you post from a story I've never heard. I'm also way to smart to say every cop shooting is a good one but I know the very vast majority are.

Why not just say you're a cop hater and leave it at that? Why the pretense at being objective when you're not? Cops are being shot at, attacked and killed at record levels over the past 18 months. If you don't believe me look it up yourself. You won't do that though will you because quite truthfully you don't care one bit, just like that racist us.

You don't know what "stereotypical of LE" is, you just hear stories that appeal to your sense of things and jump into it with both barrels blasting before you even hear all the facts. What does that say about you M.H.?

Waiting on those comments of mine but you sound like you need some rest so maybe a nap would be in order now.

LB, with all due respect (heh! G), I am not a cop hater. You couldn't be more wrong in your amateur psychological assessment. While you claim to not be the voice of all LE, you do claim to be a representative voice of an "overwhelming majority."
I hope that is just a feeling you have and not a fact. My experience with police officers is much different, but then I live in Pasadena and I am not a criminal.

Our police chief is a case in point. He is one of the most compassionate, insightful, and innovative leaders. He doesn't shrink from criticism, or go on the defensive. He's real. The experiences I've had with the Pasadena police force have been extremely positive and professional. I think that is direct connect to consistent and competent leadership. In other jurisdictions, I have had good and bad experiences. I care about the wellbeing of our police, very much. For one, there are no greater advocates and supporters of our veterans than our men and women on the streets. Empathy is in abundance and I love them for that.

Not waiting on your comments, LB. I just happen to enjoy Girardot's blog and his writing. Your presence is just icing.

With all that rhetoric MH why don't you point me in the direction of all your police praise shown on this blog that's not in response to messages thrown at you after you bad mouth them? I'll send you in the opposite direction and see how many trips we each make.

I know former cops and current cops, countless ones. The vast majority think like I do and if you don't like that too bad. I respond to people based on what they post and that alone.

The problem many people have is with my style. It's very rare when they argue my facts with anything but opinion. I'm well aware that I'm outspoken and like face to face combat. I have no control over my DNA.

I refuse to sit back and listen to pious bs based on peoples perceived notion that they know all about LE when never working a day in the profession.

My assessment was based on how often you jump on the bash cop bandwagon, and though I'm well educated in the psych field (not just cop stuff) and so many others you'd be surprised to hear, I'd agree I'm not a professional. I've taken classes that help me read people not only by body responses but writing. I don't think I guess too often.

Now go ahead and start pointing me to those posts.

Let's just be clear, LB. You are asking me to do an amateur psychological assessment of you based on your posts?

I simply asked you to back your claims up with facts for a change and not feelings. All you know of me is based on my posts and likewise for me rea you. I didn't do an assessment of you, the word games you play are for children. I responded on the attitude you have shown toward police in many posts. I didn't need to be Einstein to figure it out.

Vetty well, LB. To do what you ask of me would take considerable time, and I have so much writing to do on projects-which are screaming at me. In short, we have a history and I have read many of your comments over time. I have formed an opinion and a reaction to your tone and content. It's not in my nature to fisk another person's comments except if the particular comment is so egregious in nature that it cannot be ignored. If you'd like, you can email me off the blog: thaddius.d.patrizzi at gmail.

Anyone who uses LAist for cop stories needs to do more research. They hate cops on the site and I'm sure you know that.

I looked through some of your posts and found more than a couple that are blatantly anti-cop in my opinion. I don't tend to waste my time arguing with people with so little regard for only certain cops and not the profession itself. Some cops have proved more than once their own soft headed appeasing the public agenda. Most of these people are called "chief" and I can name a bunch of them.

MH, I have seen people die up close and personal, I have attempted to comfort people who have lost loved ones knowing the death was a good thing for the law abiding public. I had to wear that mask as many do during those times and have no regrets for feeling the way I do about the need to eliminate certain people. You sleep in the bed you make just like they did.

I have shot people, I have been shot at and I've been stabbed. I understand the danger in someone turning on you suddenly and attacking you before you can reach your equipment, I have the scars to prove that. I could have shot more often than I did, I know it's only fate that allowed me to be in one piece (pretty much) today. I still think about the near misses more than the actual conflicts.

I have very little patience for people who jump the gun about use of force cases, or tell half the story when posting. You tend to do that. I tend to wait or ask for substance from people who lash out because they think they found where a cop screwed up. Usually they have nothing to respond with.

E-mailing you would be a waste, neither of us will change the other's mind. Let me be clear though, the vast majority of cops feel like I do. They can't say so publicly due to their present work or they simply don't care enough to speak out. They still do their jobs, they still comfort thsoe who need it and wear that mask during some of those times.

My sympathies will always be with the victim. It will never be with the bad guy. Less bad guys equals more freedoms for those, especially the young ones, held prisoners in their own home in gang infested neighborhoods. They are missing a part of growing up that I loved, just running outside and playing.

That's how I am and nothing will change how I feel or the manner in which I speak out.

Have a nice night.

I posted back to you MH after you posted. Don't know why it's not here.

Bottom line is that nothing you say will change my mind about your (I'll temper it) hostility toward police. Seems like the only ones that you support are staff type who have no choice but to kiss the ass of the pc crowd. I don't play that game and never have.

Law enforcement should have one goal and one goal only, make society safer. To do that we need to put away the scum that makes it unsafe. I did that for a long time and I'm proud of my work. I don't believe in jailing everyone, just the real scum. We should be executing people on a daily basis but we're run by yappers. I mean, why is Richard Ramirez still alive? We are run by such cowards.

Thae law enforcement mission would be simpler if idiot politicians and phony gang apologists would be unmasked by the media for what harm they are actually doing. That won't happen except in rare instances due to liberal media bias which is shown in poll after poll.

Oh and MH, I have very little use for people who get their police stories from sites like LA1st, Why not go straight to the ACLU?

I will never apologize, not ever, for defending law enforcement and calling out those who post bs stories before the dust has even settled. You should visit some cop websites that show cop injuries, talk about slain cops, talk about issues and events that you never ever hear in the local media and check out the rising stats about cops being attacked constantly.
It might be an enlightening trip.

I just saw the movie Street Kings and every cop portrayed in the film was dirty in some way. Thank Holly wood for perpetuating the bad cop myth way beyond the amount all studies show it's level too be.

So if I'm right, what would be the use in talking to you anymore about it?

Great, now it's here.