Gangs in Texas recruiting 11-year-olds

Associated Press:

North Texas gangs are now recruiting children as young as 11, and even fourth- and fifth-graders are imitating their habits, police say.

Elementary schools students are wearing gang clothing, using gang signs and intimidating their classmates, said officer C.C. Meadows, a member of the Fort Worth police gang unit. Dallas police said it's common to find 13-year-olds in their files on active gang members.

Officials blame the trend on older gang members encouraging youths to commit crimes because they might face lesser penalties and on the media for glamorizing gang life.

J.B. Sanchez, a 26-year-old who describes himself as an inactive member of a Fort Worth gang, said he didn't dream of picking up a gun when he was 11 or 12.

"The guys would tell me, 'No way, you're too young,'" he said. "They set an age limit. Today, there's no age limit."

Young gang members have been charged with everything from murder to robbery to vandalism, said Sheila Wynn, juvenile division chief of the Tarrant County district attorney's office. They usually commit crimes with older gang members, and they never seem to fully understand the consequences, Wynn said.

"They don't realize what has happened to their life," Meadows said. "It's sad."

Young gang members in North Texas tend to be latchkey kids from lower-income homes where the adults spend much of their time working, said Melvin Carter, who heads the Comin' Up intervention program at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth.

"A lot of them have self-esteem and social issues, and like anyone, they want to belong to something," Carter said. "They haven't processed what is right or wrong, and this is their social group.

"Someone says to them, 'I can teach you how to get those sneakers. I can put a gun in your hand. I can make you feel powerful."

Sergio Monreal, 21, said he joined a gang eight years ago for protection after he was jumped by a carload of men while walking home from school. He said his parents worked all the time after they brought him from Mexico to Fort Worth in 1990.

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