LAPD Deputy Bill Scott

Emergency Meeting Addresses Homicides in South Los Angeles

Despite the high temperatures and sweltering heat plaguing South Los Angeles, an overflow crowd of community residents, activists, gang interventionists and law enforcement packed into Hamilton United Methodist Church on Sunday, Sept. 12 to discuss the recent surge in homicides in South Los Angeles. The emergency meeting, organized by 8th District Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson and co-chaired by U. S Rep. Karen Bass and 9th District Councilman Curren Price, was called after statistics revealed that gang-related homicides and violent crime had risen sharply during the month of August with 39 reported deaths, the most homicides since July 2009. Nearly half of