It depends on how you spin "terror" doesn't it Rat? And the year doesn't matter at all. This is but one city in one year. To POC it isn't white supremacy they worry about. It's the boy down the street in the hood.
nejm.org
BackgroundDrive-by shootings by violent street gangs contribute to early morbidity and mortality among adolescents and children in Los Angeles. This study attempted to determine the frequency of this problem and the population at greatest risk. We also studied the most frequently injured areas of the body, the seasons in which the most shootings occurred, the most common sites for drive-by shootings, and the types of firearms used.
MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the files of the Gang Information Section of the Los Angeles Police Department to identify all drive-by shootings in Los Angeles in 1991 in which a child or adolescent under the age of 18 was shot at, injured, or killed.
ResultsA total of 677 adolescents and children were shot at, among whom 429 (63 percent) had gunshot wounds and 36 (5.3 percent) died from their injuries. Three hundred three of those with gunshot wounds (71 percent) were gang members. Arms and legs were the areas of the body most commonly injured. Handguns were the most frequently used type of firearm. All the homicide victims were African American or Hispanic, and 97 percent were boys. African American and Hispanic children and adolescents, especially male gang members, had a significantly higher risk than their Asian and white counterparts of injury and death from drive-by shootings in Los Angeles (P<0.001).
ConclusionsDrive-by shootings involving adolescents and children are frequent in Los Angeles. Although Los Angeles may be an atypical case, understanding why violent street gangs form, preventing causes of violence, and limiting access to firearms are essential steps in preventing this serious problem.
In the city of Los Angeles, drive-by shootings are an important cause of early morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, more than 90 percent of such shootings are perpetrated by members of violent street gangs. Los Angeles has the most such gangs of any city in the United States, with more than 400 different gangs and approximately 60,000 gang members. According to the police department, 58 percent of gang members in Los Angeles are Hispanic, 37 percent are African American, 3 percent are Asian, and 2 percent are white. The vast majority of inner-city children do not join street gangs, however. |
