A Ridiculous War Rages on in the Name of 'Respect'

By JERRY HICKS

July 15, 1999 12 AM PT

It may have just been a murder of convenience.

Eduardo Yepez Guerrero, 18, of Santa Ana, was attending a May 29 wedding reception on Wallace Avenue in Costa Mesa, police allege, when he slipped away to take care of some business that just happened to be on the same block.

He’s now charged with double murder, accused of firing three shots randomly through a garage door, killing 15-year-old Yuridia Balbuena and her unborn baby daughter. The girl was living with her family in the garage, converted into an apartment.

We knew the night it happened that it was a senseless, cruel murder. But the motive given by police this week defies any application of logic.

Costa Mesa police, who worked this case for six weeks, say Guerrero belongs to a gang whose members were upset that another gang had sprayed graffiti in its territory. A challenge, the experts say, that demanded response, in the gang mentality. Police allege the shooter’s target may have been the girl’s brother.

“The way they think, it’s almost as if these gang people come from another planet,” said Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden. “We’re aghast at how utterly senseless this was.”

While gang crime in Orange County is down, according to the most recent district attorney’s report, the total number of gang members is actually up. And for the first time, the number of known gangs in the county has reached 400.

“We’ve done a lot to reduce violent crime among gang members,” said Sean Barry, a supervisor for the county probation department’s gang suppression unit. “But something like this just shows you we’ve got a long way to go.”

I’ve talked with numerous gang experts since Guerrero’s arrest Tuesday about why anyone would resort to violence over something so minor as graffiti, as the police claim.

They all brought up the same word: disrespect.

“Gang members have an exaggerated sense of respect,” said Barry, who would talk only on condition I not ask questions about specific cases. “If someone shows disrespect, sometimes one gang member will step forward to do something about it, to make his mark with the other gang members.

Santa Ana police Sgt. Kevin Ruiz calls it “a weird, warped sense of allegiance.” Ruiz, a 20-year police veteran, has worked the gang detail for 12 years. Some gang members, he said, joined before he took that job, yet are still in the same gang.

“You have to understand,” said Ruiz, “that without the gang, you are nothing. So it envelops your entire life. The emphasis on respect may seem silly to the average citizen. To the gang, it’s everything.”

This gang mentality is enhanced, of course, by the easy availability of a weapon. Costa Mesa police say a .357 Ruger was used to kill Yuridia Balbuena, and that the weapon was passed around from gang member to gang member.

“Getting a weapon is almost as easy as going down to the public library to get a book,” Ruiz said.

It’s not that we’re not fighting back. Most cities here, and even groups like the YMCA, have programs aimed at trying to show young people there are options, even when gangs dominate their neighborhoods. The city of Westminster last month sought a $353,000 grant to start a program aimed at changing young people’s attitudes about gangs.

The county Probation Department has programs both to keep people out of gangs and to intensely follow hard core gang members on probation. There’s also the Target program, where prosecutors follow specific gang members’ criminal paths to make sure they’re prosecuted fully before they get into worse trouble.

“We try to stop the next killing,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Claudia Silbar, Target’s supervising attorney.

Guerrero was already a Target defendant. He was in jail on a probation violation--details why have not yet been released--when he was charged with the Balbuena murder.

Chief Snowden said the night of the Balbuena shooting, Guerrero’s name was mentioned by numerous investigators as a likely suspect. But evidence connecting him to the shooting was difficult to come by until the city’s $25,000 reward offer brought some informants forward.

There may be no answer for solving the gang problem. But at least, says prosecutor Silbar, we can keep thinking up ways to fight the battle.

In Los Angeles, the city attorney’s office has begun issuing injunctions to hard-core gang members, to restrict their activities.

In Santa Monica, a court has created a “safety zone” where gang members are not allowed to congregate or use alcohol.

And in Orange County, the district attorney’s office is considering a state law proposal that would make it illegal for some gang members to congregate. It’s sure to create a stir among some civil libertarians. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a similar ordinance in Chicago.

“We’re studying what happened in Chicago to see if we can come up with a law that will be constitutional,” said Silbar. “What’s going on out there with some of these gangs is just crazy.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 564-1049 or e-mail to [email protected]