RIVAL GANGS AT WAR NEAR CAMPUS PUT TEENS AT RISK
By Rachel Uranga And Rick Coca, Staff Writers, rachel.uranga@dailynews.com

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
09/12/2007 12:46:40 AM PDT

LAKE BALBOA – Gang-related shootings near Birmingham High School have
left parents on edge, police scrambling and administrators frustrated
as the new school year begins.

The wave of violence continued unabated this week when a 23-year-old
man was shot outside a Jack in the Box across from campus as students
chatted or waited for the bus – just 40 minutes after the afternoon
bell rang and less than a week after classes began.

The shooting marked the sixth gang-related attack since July in the
neighborhoods around Birmingham, a storied high school that boasts
such alumni as Michael Milken, Michael Ovitz, Sally Field and the
late journalist Daniel Pearl.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the violence by
beefing up patrols in the area, and citing nearly 50 students for
ditching class.

"It’s scary," Principal Marsha Coates said. "We are living in the
Valley surrounded by gangs. My concern is always student safety."

Coates sends out notices to all freshman parents, warning them
not to let their children hang out after school at the Jack in the
Box – a known gang hangout – and directing students to supervised
locations. But there is only so much she can do.

"I wish the mayor would get out here and clean up the streets so we can
teach our children," she said. "It is really frustrating. I want them
to learn, our gangbangers to learn, so they have a route out of this."

School administrators say there are several gangs and only a handful
of security officers to patrol the sprawling, 73-acre campus – the
largest high school site west of the Mississippi River and a former
military hospital – where random metal-detector checks are part of
everyday security.

"What do I do about it?" Coates asked. "If your child is a gangbanger,
they are still entitled to a free and appropriate education."

Three years ago, after rising racial tensions between Latinos and
Armenians, the school revived a peer-intervention program and began
another in which students worked out disputes before they escalated
into violence.

"Those two groups are why we haven’t had major eruptions in
Birmingham," said Charles Miller, head of security and discipline
at the school. "It’s definitely a concern when the neighborhood is
erupting in violence. We try and teach the students how to deal with
these problems."

But the measures are small comfort to many parents.

"What I’m most concerned about is coming to pick her up one day and
find that something (tragic) went on," said Javier Covarrubiasas he
picked up his daughter Tuesday afternoon.

Lakes Miranda, a 17-year-old senior, said she heard the shots ring
out Monday as she was crossing the street to catch the bus.

"I just don’t think there’s anything they can do about it," she said
of school officials.

Police say part of the reason for tensions around the school is gang
members who cross into each others’ territory when they arrive at
the school – or recruit from it. But Miranda said she hasn’t heard
of serious problems, a sentiment echoed by other students.

On Monday, as police searched for witnesses, many of the students they
suspect saw the shooting were nowhere to be found, likely scared of
retaliation from the shooters.

The reaction is a testament to just how entrenched the fear of gangs
is at schools like Birmingham, which more than 3,000 students from
Encino, Van Nuys, Northridge and Lake Balboa attend.

High school seniors Michael Gomez and Kenny Rodriguez, both 17,
say violence is a hard reality on the streets outside campus – but
rarely makes it past the school gates.

"Everybody’s chill," Rodriguez said, but added that there are a few
consistent troublemakers.

"You got to watch your back," Gomez said. "… We leave straight home
(after school). It’s not safe."

The summertime wave of shootings between July and Monday involved
at least three gangs – Mara Salvatrucha, the Pacoima Criminals and
Logan Street, police said.

Though the motivations for all the shootings are unclear, police say
many, like a near-homicide July 17 just blocks from campus, stem from
old beefs.

On that day, an MS gang member had just picked up a student when
someone in the car spotted a rival gang member, police said. Summer
school had just let out and the rivals both had guns and scores
to settle.

Police believe the two had gotten into a fight the day before at
Birmingham. Ten gunshots later, a 20-year-old man had been shot in
the head. He remains hospitalized.

School officials decided not to put out notices or hold any kind
of assembly Tuesday regarding the shooting the day before. Coates
said she made the decision because until this point, there was no
indication that students were involved.

But investigators say there is too little information to know who did
it. The Jack in the Box has long been a dangerous place, the site
of several shootings since 2002 and a "a melting pot for gangs,"
said LAPD Detective Marc Martinez.

"The school can hoot and holler all they want that they don’t have a
gang problem, but they are there," he said. "(Gang members) know how
to hide it better when they are on school grounds, but they are there."

Parent Charisse Ridgle, who had enrolled her freshman daughter,
Tanesha, at Birmingham High after she heard about violence around
Monroe High School in North Hills, was shocked by Birmingham’s
problems.

"Wow, I’m trying to be a good parent here," said Ridgle, who picks up
and drops off her daughter from school daily. "That’s scary. … It
is very frustrating to hear that."