Gang violence erupting in San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano

Way back in November of last year I wrote about an injunction against a bunch of gangs in south Orange County. I could not believe that there were gangs in cities like San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and Mission Viejo. But there are. And today’s L.A. Times revealed how bad the problem is getting.

“Three teenage boys were in custody Wednesday in connection with the death of a 14-year-old San Juan Capistrano boy who was struck in the head with a large piece of concrete during an apparent gang altercation, authorities said,” according to the L.A. Times.

I guess the gangs in south Orange County haven’t figured out how to do drive by shootings yet, as they appear to be resorting to the rather Flintstonian concrete hurling technique – which quite frankly is absolutely horrific.

How do you explain teenagers killing a 14 year old by throwing a chunk of concrete at him? Such utter disregard for life is simply dismaying. And that this happened in San Juan Capistrano instead of in Santa Ana is, well, pretty damn surprising. And I am sure this event is not one that our neighbors to the south are particularly happy about.

Now here’s the interesting part of the story. Guess who provides police services in San Juan Capistrano?  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department. It looks like new O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has some work to do in south Orange County. And the obvious question is how did disgraced former Sheriff Mike Carona let things get this out of control in San Juan Capistrano of all places?

Apparently the Sheriff’s Deputies in San Juan Capistrano have already nailed the perps in this case, “Working through the weekend, investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department determined that two groups of teenagers — one from San Juan Capistrano, the other from San Clemente — got into a fight Friday night,” according to the L.A. Times.

So this mess involves San Clemente too. I guess times are changing in south Orange County. And not for the better.

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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.