VENICE : Police Step Up Patrols as Gangs Fight One Another

Los Angeles police have stepped up patrols in a Venice neighborhood amid concern that recent violence may signal a turf war between two black and Latino gangs that usually don’t fight one another.

Authorities said five gang-related shootings may have been sparked by an incident last weekend in which a Latino man was shot dead in a confrontation with a black man. The shooting, which occurred in a dispute over a woman, was not gang-related but fed sporadic tensions between the Venice Shoreline Crips, a black gang, and Venice 13, a Latino gang, according to Lt. Brad Merritt, who commands a police gang detail.

A beefed-up force of 30 anti-gang specialists, motorcycle patrols and other officers was added Thursday night and will patrol the half-square-mile area at least through the weekend, Lt. Kent Setty said.

Oakwood residents called for stepped-up action during a community meeting at the Los Angeles police Pacific Division station on Thursday. Besides assigning the extra police patrols, gang specialists reportedly were brokering negotiations between the two street gangs.