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LAPD targets Toonerville Gang in Atwater
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LAPD targets Toonerville Gang in Atwater
LAPD targets Toonerville Gang in Atwater
LAPD Chief Bill Bratton Thursday announced the arrest of 19 members of one of the city’s most violent gangs. KPCC’s Frank Stoltze says police suspect four of them of murder.
Frank Stoltze: Bratton says the Toonerville Gang operated around the Atwater Village and Glendale areas just off the 5 Freeway.
Chief Bill Bratton: They have engaged actively in ambushes of police officers – a particularly vicious and violent gang. That's why they made the top 10.
Stoltze: In early morning raids, police found 48 guns in one Toonerville home. Captain Bill Murphy promised to follow up with heavy street patrols.
Captain Bill Murphy: We’re going to put them in the rival gang to the Toonerville, which is the Rascals, so we don't have a power vacuum in that particular area. And we are going to turn that neighborhood like we turned Drew Street.
Stoltze: Last year, police targeted the Drew Street gang in Glassell Park, then flooded the area with officers.
Murphy: We went in there last year, we did the operation, but we followed it up immediately by seizing that ground. We brought a mobile command center in there, we did foot beats every day for months.
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We did lots of police action. But we did a lot of community stuff. We developed neighborhood watches, did resource fairs, did picnics. And we really won the community over. And that's what we want to do here.
Stoltze: Police estimate 450 people claim membership in the Toonerville gang. Police say the 19 they arrested were the most violent.
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