Tensions high before gunfire

Jannise Johnson:

The arrest Tuesday of three suspected gang members in race-related shots fired at an inhabited dwelling followed weeks of escalating tensions between black and Latino residents in one area of the city, police said.

Phillip Ramirez, 24, of Rancho Cucamonga, and two 17-year-old boys, one from Rancho Cucamonga, the other from Ontario, were arrested Tuesday following a two-week-long investigation into racial threats which culminated June 15 with shots fired into a home in the 10000 block of Salina Street, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzales.

Ramirez and the two boys confirmed their involvement in both a Latino gang and in the shooting, according to an earlier police statement. The family targeted in the shooting is black, while the suspected shooters are Latino, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Wirz.

The black family lives in an area known as the Club House tract where many other black families reside, Wirz said.

An older Latino street gang controls a nearby area around Humboldt Avenue and 24th Street, Wirz explained. Members of the street gang have been known to threaten black children who come into that area to shop or use a nearby park.

In addition to these tensions, a relatively new black street gang has thrown itself into the area mix, Wirz explained.

"There’s been weeks and weeks of arguments between (members of the Latino gang) and some blacks who belong" to the new street gang, Wirz said.

Gonzales said gang investigators with the Rancho Cucamonga station have been aware of the new gang for about a year.

Prior to the shooting at their home, family members called Rancho deputies a few times to complain about harassment from members of the Latino gang, who targeted a teen boy who lived at the home, Wirz said.

One of the 17-year-old boys arrested Tuesday had a previous fist fight with a boy who lives at the home, Wirz said.

Ironically, the boy was out of town when the shooting occurred, he said.

"It’s just pure luck that no one was seriously injured or killed," Wirz said.

The shooting involved a high-powered rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, Wirz said.

While Gonzales could not say whether tensions in the neighborhood are expected to worsen, Wirz said the family targeted in the shooting is not waiting around to find out.

"The family’s trying to relocate," Wirz said. "This is just too much for them to deal with."

Ramirez and the two teens were booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, a hate crime, participating in a criminal street gang and possession of dangerous firearms.

Ramirez is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. The two teens’ names were not made public because of their ages.

Three arrested on gang, weapons charges