For nearly a decade, California has appropriated $9.215 million every year to fund CalGRIP, a grant program to cities that provide a dollar-for-dollar match to implement evidence-based programs to reduce youth and group-related crime and violence, according to the Children’s Defense Fund California website.
The leader of a South Los Angeles street gang blamed for two decades of murders, robberies, extortion, illegal firearms possession, witness intimidation and narcotics trafficking near downtown’s Skid Row was sentenced Monday to nearly 22 years in federal prison.
Thirty years ago, Lisa Garrett, 53, was taking her son home from school when her life took a drastic turn.
“A gang was coming down the street and they just screamed out ‘West Side!’” Garrett said.
Then shots rang out and Garrett shielded her then 7-year-old son to keep him safe.
A large crowd of community members, social activists, preachers and children gathered at the Park and Ride on Crenshaw Boulevard and 120th Street to bring awareness to the senseless gun violence impacting families and children in Los Angeles and abroad. The rally, which called for peace and social resolve through unity, faith, and prayer, sought to eradicate the cloud of darkness hovering over Los Angeles communities.
City officials sued a Watts resident whose home was the scene of shootings and drug sales over the last 14 years, City Attorney Mike Feuer said last week. The single-family house sits in a cul-de-sac at 2127 East 110th St., not far from a nursing home and two schools — Grape Street Elementary and San Miguel Catholic School, authorities said. The lawsuit targets the property’s owner, Willie Mae Hawthorn. Feuer alleges that the house, which is marked by gang graffiti, is a “stronghold” for the Ten Line Gangster Crips, and is linked to a dozen shootings over the past 14