After a flurry of gang activity in Morgan Hill, including a
gang-related homicide, Morgan Hill Police believe levels of
activity will soon sink back to normal. The shooting on Sept. 30 is
believed to be retaliation for a slashing-style assault on two
15-year-old boys in August. There have been other incidents,
according to MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson, including an armed robbery and
assault and a number of gang
“scuffles” last weekend, but he believes they are all
related.
After a flurry of gang activity in Morgan Hill, including a gang-related homicide, Morgan Hill Police believe levels of activity will soon sink back to normal.
The shooting on Sept. 30 is believed to be retaliation for a slashing-style assault on two 15-year-old boys in August. There have been other incidents, according to MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson, including an armed robbery and assault and a number of gang “scuffles” last weekend, but he believes they are all related.
“There could be some residual activity, but we won’t know what that entails yet,” Sampson said Thursday. “When you study gangs and know gangs, you can see the way things evolve. I worked gang suppression in Orange County, I’ve seen this kind of thing. You get a spike of activity like this, then you are able to push it back down under the surface again.”
Sampson said the South County area does not have the gang problem that other areas have.
“This is an unusual level of gang activity for our city, for Morgan Hill, because we are relatively low in terms of gang violence for a city of 36,000,” he said. “This was an unusual spike. We are fortunate that we don’t have that high level of violence that some places have. But that’s where South County, including Gilroy and San Martin are different from cities that are plagued by gang violence, we lack the critical mass of sophisticated gangsters.”
The gangsters who are involved in armed robberies, drive-by shootings, etc., are not typically found in South County. And Sampson said the community doesn’t need to worry that the recent homicide is indicative of a move in that direction.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said Wednesday he was confident in the work the police department is doing.
“The recent gang-related homicide in Morgan Hill appears to be the aftermath of an earlier incident,” he said. “I would characterize it as a flare-up of gang activity stemming from that earlier incident, and not an increase in overall gang participation. Our police department is taking this very seriously and is working with Gilroy, the school district and other agencies to ensure that our community is safe.”
The homicide occurred Sept. 30 behind the Safeway grocery store in Tennant Station shopping center at approximately 8pm. A 19-year-old Gilroy man, Luis Santos Bautista, was shot four times, allegedly by Anthony Frausto, 18, of Morgan Hill. Frausto is in Santa Clara County Jail, held without bond. Bautista died later that night.
Sampson said Frausto was associated with the Norteño gang, whose members identify themselves as Hispanics born in the U.S. Norteños are often associated with the color red. Bautista, who came to the U.S. from Mexico less than one year ago, according to his family, was believed to be a Sureño member. Sureños identify themselves as Hispanics born outside of the U.S., and generally wear blue.
Live Oak High Principal Nick Boden said Friday that despite an earlier report, there were no gang fights at Live Oak on Monday.
“We haven’t had any gang activity,” he said. “I know we did not have any gang fights on campus during lunch or brunch that day … There was a heightened tension that you could feel on Monday, but by Tuesday, everything was back to normal.”
Police have increased patrols at both Morgan Hill high schools.
Sobrato Principal Rich Knapp said he and his staff have made a point of being very visible during the breaks. Russom Mesfun, Britton Middle School principal, said his staff is doing the same.
“We have extreme visibility,” Mesfun said. “I have a cart, and I patrol the campus relentlessly, along with my student supervisors, who are extremely vigilant. We keep an eye on the temperature of the student community. We do not have gangsters, what we have are students who posture as if they were. The best term I can think of is ‘wannabes.’ They have absolutely no actual affiliations, no idea what they are doing. ”
There have been no fights between gangs at Britton, he said.
Knapp also agreed that visibility and awareness on the part of the staff is important. Sobrato High also has a system of security cameras posted around the campus.
“I certainly believe the cameras are a deterrent,” he said. “The students know they are there, and they know we can go back and look to see exactly what happened if there was an incident. But better than the cameras is the staff, who are available to students and who listen. Our SRO and the police department has been extremely supportive. We have a great relationship.”
Students who associate themselves with gangs are not a new phenomenon, he added.
“The regrettable news is that there have been these students that sometimes act like they are wannabes,” said Knapp. “I wish I could say there has been no escalation in activity in the community at this point, but I believe we are in a good position here to check any activity here on campus before it gets out of hand.”
Sampson said the investigation into the homicide is continuing, and detectives are working to gauge the temperature of the gang community. Officers out in the community are focusing on gang suppression, Sampson said, and are prepared to keep tabs on anything that might spring up.
The violent activities of gang members typically comes from the older members, those who are beyond school age, he said, but the department wanted to increase the number of officers at the secondary schools this week as a precaution, for the safety of the “wannabes” themselves.
“We thought it was important just to show a presence,” he said. “Even if they are just a fringe associate, if they want to puff out their chest and posture, we want them to see uniformed officers walking around.”
