City Reaches Out to Neighborhood Shaken By Shootings

City officials went door-to-door Thursday to quell residents' concerns after a series of shootings in a south Monrovia neighborhood alarmed police and community leaders.

and two more were investigated in the unincorporated areas around the city, so the city decided to reach out directly to residents in the areas where the shootings took place to gather information and raise awareness, said Neighborhood Services Director Dan McConnell.

"We'd really like to help try and stop this before it gets into anything," McConnell said. "We are going to continue to put information out to our residents so they can be armed with that information."

McConnell said he got the sense from residents that the shootings were isolated incidents and not indicative of any new gang conflicts. Police have said they have no suspects in the shootings but assume that they are gang related.

"Theres a thinking more or less from the people we've talked to that this is a sporadic thing," McConnell said. "It was not the same old players from the last time around."

McConnell was referring to a period of gang warfare in Monrovia in late 2007 and early 2008 that claimed four lives. Two gangs involved in those killings, the Du Roc Crips and Monrovia Nuevo Varrio, were the subjects of a gang injunction implemented by the city in late 2009.

Monrovia has not had a gang murder since Dec. 2009, when as he was walking on Colorado Boulevard.

Though the recent shootings did not result in any known injuries, they still raised concern about another flare up of gang activity in town.

The first shooting in city limits was reported in the evening of Mar. 28, according to Chief Jim Hunt . Witnesses saw a white pickup driving along the 500 block of Almond Avenue when a man leaned out the driver side window of the truck and fired a gun into the air.

No one was injured and there are no suspects in the shooting.

The next shooting came just before 11:30 p.m. the night of Mar. 31, when several residents on the 1200 block of Sherman Avenue reported that they heard gunshots. Police found shotgun shell casings in the street but did not locate any witnesses or victims, Hunt said.

The most recent shooting also occurred on Sherman Avenue near Cherry Avenue, on the same block where new signs . The area was once a haven for gang members and has been the site of several gang shootings in the past.

Residents on Sherman reported hearing shots and police again found bullet casings--this time from handgun cartridges--but no other leads were uncovered.

Recent gang graffiti from the Du Roc Crips, one of the gangs involved in the 2008 and 2009 killings, was found in unincorporated Monrovia, Hunt said.

In addition to the city's efforts, local community leaders also gathered on Wednesday to discuss the shootings, said Rev. Ulises Gutierrez of the Youth Alliance.

Gutierrez joined city officials from Monrovia and Duarte and representatives of the Monrovia Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to chart a course of action for the community going forward.

"We have to stay on top of this," Gutierrez said.