Two Shootings Near the Compton Courthouse
The L.A. Times reports:
Authorities say two people were killed overnight in two apparently unrelated Compton shootings.
The first shooting was reported at 9:50 p.m. Sunday in the 300 block of West Alondra Boulevard, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Butao.
Witnesses said four men approached a car in which two women were sitting with a child and the groups exchanged words, Butao said. One of the men then opened fire before his group fled on foot, Butao said. One woman was killed and the other was wounded, Butao said. . . .
. . . .
Deputies responded to a second fatal shooting at 12:05 a.m. in the 300 block of West Magnolia Street and found a man dead at the scene.
Each shooting occurred within 1/3 mile of the courthouse. Pin #1 represents 300 W. Alondra Boulevard, near the first shooting. Pin #2 represents 300 W. Magnolia St., near the second shooting. The orange square in between them has a blue arrow pointing at the location of just below the courthouse.
Here is an aerial of the same area:
Nothing to see here, folks.
At least the paper reported it this time . . . That hasn’t always been the case.
This is why I hate jury duty. I always get sent to Compton even though I have 2 or 3 county courthouses that are closer to my house.
Mark1971 (c92bfa) — 3/10/2008 @ 6:13 pmWell, we need jurors.
We need non-nullifying jurors.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 6:21 pmThis isn’t a rare occurrence, is it?
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 7:09 pmDefine “rare.”
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 7:14 pmI’m not sure how to define rare so I’ll try this: Is it a high crime area compared to other areas of LA? Do visitors and residents generally feel safe in this neighborhood, or is it a neighborhood that people try to avoid?
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 7:25 pmCompton? It’s dangerous. Did you click all the links in the post? A few months back, one of the paralegals at work was right in front of a lady who had her back windshield blown out by gunfire while they waited to get into the parking lot. There was an armed carjacking at the courthouse at 8:30 one morning where a guy was shot in the face. There was a murder in the public parking lot when my wife worked there. There is violence inside the courthouse on a semi-regular basis; one defendant carved the name of a D.A. into a plastic knife and lunged for the D.A. (different one, standing in for the D.A. whose name was carved in; no matter, you after after the D.A. you have, not the one you want) — after a bailiff grabbed him and fought with him, another bailiff shot the defendant in the head in front of the jury that had just convicted him. Etc.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 7:40 pmI mean, it’s the place where the Crips and the Bloods got their start.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 7:40 pmGee, too bad they did their deeds at night; you could have had front row seats.
BTW, your arrow for the Courthouse actually points to the parking structure.
And, I always get called to Compton; never Norwalk, or Long Beach. I don’t even get called to Downey or Bellflower for muni court, and I live in Downey.
As I posted on another thread, street gangs are no different than AQ – they are terrorists, and should be treated as such. No Miranda, no GC provisions, just summary executions!
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/10/2008 @ 8:25 pmI thought so but I wanted to make sure before I said this.
It seems like safety should be the overriding priority in neighborhoods like Compton, and if I lived there or anywhere near there, I’d want the police and city officials to deal severely with the violence. I’d probably welcome martial law.
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 8:34 pmDRJ…
What we need here in CA, and what the pols refuse to give us, is “shall issue” concealed carry.
If only 5% of those on the streets had the legal means to fight back, these thugs would think again before doing some of this.
How many shootings like this do you have in Dallas or Houston?
Just remember, CA is virtually a “gun-free” zone; and, we see in the news every week what happens in gun-free zones.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/10/2008 @ 8:40 pmThe paper reported the two murders, but every news agency in the country rode the death of five American soldiers all day. How many hundred murders on the streets of America did they pass up to hype Iraq, which the media has already lost on. Most major Lame Stream Media outlets are already dead, they just haven’t layed down yet.
Scrapiron (d671ab) — 3/10/2008 @ 8:55 pmAnother Drew, I’m a big supporter of “shall issue” but places like Compton are beyond it.
Unfortunately, if trends continue and police efforts continue to fall farther and farther behind as they have, then there will come a time when extreme measures analogous to martial law will have to be considered.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/10/2008 @ 8:59 pmAnother Drew,
I lived in Houston and Dallas a long, long time ago. There were places like Compton in both those cities, places where not even the police would go at night. I don’t know what they are like now. I’m sure they are still dangerous but I don’t know if they are better or worse than Compton.
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:03 pmDRJ…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:16 pmJust wondering if those parts of Dallas & Houston had changed in any way since TX passed Shall Issue?
I can’t see how it could have negatively impacted them, or we would have been told by the MSM what a complete failure Shall Issue is, and that every streetcorner is “Dodge City”.
Since they haven’t, I can only assume that at worst, there has been no change, and at best, it is now somewhat safer in those areas for the people that live, work and visit there; which of course, would not fit the narrative that our betters in the Media have determined for us.
I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it, Another Drew, since I don’t really know what places like Houston’s Fifth Ward and Dallas’ South Oak Cliff are like today.
I know more about Austin. It was dangerous to go into East Austin when I went to law school 30 years ago. I rode with the police as part of a clinical program in law school and on one occasion I ended up at an East Austin riot, alone in the patrol car holding the shotgun “just in case.” East Austin is still unsafe, but the police started getting aggressive about enforcement and a more assertive presence when I was there. I think that approach has paid off.
There was a similar problem and response in a neighboring West Texas city that was, at one time, the murder capital (per capita) in the US. So based on my observations, I think aggressive community policing is the best start. But I doubt real aggressive community policing is acceptable in California.
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:23 pmThe spineless turds known as politicians out here would never stand still for aggressive community policing (do a search on the comments of an L.A. City Councilman at the time of the Rodney King Riots: Mark Ridley Thomas – he’s a State Senator now, and could be one of the most powerful politicians in the state when he, as expected, gets elected to the L.A.County Board of Supervisors).
As an example, LA’s current Police Chief, Bratton (ex-NYC), said that it would be impossible to “arrest our way out of the problem” when asked about ridding the city of illegal alien criminals. That attitude infests Downtown, and is an implicit acknoledgement of failure. As far as I’m concerned, he just said that we’re all on our own.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:32 pmBTW, your arrow for the Courthouse actually points to the parking structure.
Absolutely right. I slapped up the post in a hurry before running to fix dinner for the kids and didn’t look closely.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:39 pmThere were places like Compton in both those cities, places where not even the police would go at night.
To their credit, there is absolutely no place in L.A. where the cops won’t go at night. They go to the worst housing projects and the most deserted streets and alleys.
Patterico (4bda0b) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:40 pmI know that’s true and good for them, but I’m not sure that was true 35-40 years ago in Watts.
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/10/2008 @ 9:43 pmDRJ It was true in 1971. We did it carefully, but there was nowhere in the County that LAPD and LASD would not go.
Labcatcher (afe438) — 3/11/2008 @ 6:45 amMore reasons why we should repeal all these stupid gun free zones
krazy kagu (79fc72) — 3/11/2008 @ 7:33 amI think it was Channel 7 last night that described the 10 murders in recent days as a gang war. It’s nice to see at least some attempt to put the carnage on the front burner, even though white racism is not the cause of the murders.
Patricia (f56a97) — 3/11/2008 @ 10:20 amLong-time reader, first-time commenter …
Houston’s “bad neighborhoods” have shifted somewhat to the southwest part of town.
The 1970s-era apartment complexes in the first ring of what used to be suburbia are overcrowded with hard-drinking immigrants, bad-acting Katrina refugees and other troubled populations. There are at least one or two apartment complex shootings every night.
Crime in Houston appears to be getting worse … despite the concealed weapons laws.
poolside (270977) — 3/11/2008 @ 10:20 amThe Crips and Bloods started in Los Angeles on the West side I may add. They came to Compton ( a very small town) with small town law enforcement. They( the gangs overwhem the police forces as Citzens in Compton tried to deal with the major problem that had not existed before 1973.
flowdiva (ac42b0) — 3/11/2008 @ 4:35 pmMany Young Comptonites became Police officers or entered law enforcement to try to stop the wave…
They are still in the process…
I think Eric Peridin, the Mayor of Compton has cleaned it up a lot. I am always treated with respect and courtesy
Victoria Clemans (7d381d) — 3/25/2008 @ 9:30 pmand met Mike Tyson there which was pretty fun.
I think the African American judges are nicer to women lawyers and I always get a welcome feeling there.
P.S.. I’m a white chick who grew up in the ghetto so maybe this shit just doesn’t scare me! Also, went to a football game there not to long ago. I did get a little creeped out at night but there were cops everywhere!