Police find increase in gang activity Police find increase in gang activity (October 08, 2004)

Girl beaten at high school prior to recent murder

By Julie O'Shea

Shortly after a teen was killed in a possible gang-related shooting, Mountain View and Los Altos police reported that gang activity has risen over the past few years.

Alejandro "Alex" Fernandez, a 17-year-old junior at Los Altos High School and a former member of a Mexican-American gang, was shot to death Sept. 24 in Mountain View. The murder caught police off-guard, and left high school officials to wonder if tensions among gangs have reached a boiling point.

Police have not said for certain whether Alex's death is a result of gang activity but indicated that there is a strong "link" that suggests so. As of Tuesday, Mountain View law enforcement officers have no suspects and no motives in the city's first homicide of 2004.

Meanwhile, rumors have started to spread that the community's two rival gangs -- the Surenos and the Nortenos -- are on the brink of more conflict with each other. And some fear the fighting could begin after Alex's funeral, which was scheduled to take place Oct. 7 at St. Athanasius Church on Rengstorff Avenue.

"We are not approaching this with a blind eye," police spokesperson Jim Bennett said. "This is very much an emotional issue. We listen to all the scenarios and rumors that are out there, but there has been no specific threat that something is going to happen after the funeral."

Both Mountain View and Los Altos police departments said they have seen an increase in gang-related crimes but are unsure what is causing it. Despite the trend, Mountain View police reported that gang activity is 50 percent of what it was in the mid-'90s, when gang-related crimes reached a peak.

Brigitte Sarraf, associate superintendent of the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, said officials there are doing everything they can to make sure students are safe but acknowledged "we are living in very tense times."

Sarraf said school leaders have sensed "rumblings" from students affiliated with gangs since the start of school. Alex used to be a member of the Surenos gang, according to police. Officers said they are unsure what his association was with the gang at the time of his death.

"Gang-related -- what does that really mean?" Sarraf said. "We are not talking about hard-core gangs. That's why we were so surprised by Alex's death.",

"Why this is happening right now is unclear to us." Sarraf continued.

Currently, five students in the district are facing potential expulsions; four of these cases have a direct correlation with these gang-related "rumblings," Sarraf said.

And about two weeks before Alex was gunned down on Rengstorff Avenue, a lunchtime fight erupted at Los Altos High among a group of Latina girls. It is unclear what the fight was about, but all the students involved received one-week suspensions.

It is also unclear if the youths were associated with a gang. Sarraf said it would be unfair to place a label on the teens. However, the grandmother of the freshman girl who was severely beaten up in the altercation said this was indeed gang-related.

The woman, who declined to give her name in order to protect the identity of her grandchild, told the Voice she feels gang violence is rampant among Mountain View and Los Altos youth. Her family, she said, is afraid to send her grandchildren back to school, especially now that there's been a murder.

"These teachers turn their eyes away. They don't see what's going on. Why did Los Altos get so bad?" the grandmother said during an interview Friday, adding that she believes there could be a "civil war" between the rival gangs after Alex's funeral.

Los Altos Principal Wynne Satterwhite said her campus is safe and that the staff takes a zero-tolerance stance on gang-related activity or paraphernalia.

Those with information about Alex Fernandez's death are encouraged to call the police tip line at (866) 570-8211.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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