"Eduardo": "Because that life is boring." After "Eduardo's" uncuffed – and with his mother present – I ask him if he's a gang member or just a gang associate?Īustin Jenkins: "Gang member and you're proud of it?"Īustin Jenkins: "Why don't you want to just be a nice kid and go fishing and get a job, go to college?" "Eduardo" tells Officer McGary hes been expelled from school. He claims membership in a local Soreno gang – the South Side Locos. We'll call this kid "Eduardo" to protect his identity as a minor. Soon the youngest of the boys is in handcuffs.Īs McGary writes him a ticket for the marijuana, he notices gang writing on the kid's shoe. But when he stops to check their fishing licenses he finds some marijuana. In the Northwest, that can mean a collision of outdoor recreation and gang culture.Īs we drive, Officer McGary spots three boys fishing in a small creek. The National Youth Gang Survey showed a dramatic increase in rural gangs between 20, the last year those numbers are available. Police believe the boy's older brother was the intended target. Joe Harris: "He's just laying there in his bed and he gets woken up by a gunshot, a bullet that went through his head." He can also tell you the stories behind the numbers like the time he responded to a call of a 10-year-old boy wounded in a drive-by shooting. Grant County Deputy Joe Harris is the one who compiles these stats.
Last year, there were three gang-related homicides, 66 times when someone brandished or fired a gun and 337 reports of gang tagging. These are the main rival gangs around here.Īccording to the Sheriff's office, there are more than 400 known gang members in this sprawling, rural county of just 85,000 people. Everywhere you look there's gang graffiti on top of gang graffiti – giant spray painted letters in blue.Ĭhad McGary: "And then crossed out in red saying blue came in and tagged it up and red says 'no this is our area, not your area.'" So are the public bathrooms, even the large rocks and boulders. Check out the graffiti.Ĭhad McGary: "Every single sign that we have here is tagged up." That's because this fishing spot is gang turf. We're near Potholes Reservoir in Grant County in Central Washington.Ĭhad McGary: "I have three kids myself and I don't come down here unless I'm armed and I know where I'm going to be going fishing." Officer Chad McGary pulls his state-issue pick-up into a public boat ramp.
#GANGLAND TV SHOW FONT SERIES#
In part one of our series "Living In Gangland," we go on patrol with a Washington Fish and Wildlife cop. This week we're taking a look at what police say is a resurgence of gang activity - especially in rural areas. Gang members are frequenting public recreation lands: boat launches, fishing holes, hunting areas. Anybody who doesn't accept or acknowledge that there's gangs and there's a problem, they're a little naïve."Īnd it's not just in the small towns. Just ask Darin Smith, chief of police in Royal City, Washington - population 2,000.ĭarin Smith: "People think 'oh, these are just a bunch of wannabes.' I go anytime a kid picks up a gun and points it at somebody else – that's the real deal. But in parts of the rural Northwest, police are grappling with gang rivalries, graffiti and even drive-by shootings. – Gang violence is mostly a big city problem. Gang graffiti is abundant at a boat ramp in the Potholes Reservoir area of Grant County, Washington
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