It was a day after a graffiti-removal worker employed by Homeboy Industries was shot to death while stopped at a traffic light at a Boyle Heights intersection, and six weeks after another graffiti worker was slain by suspected gang members.
But at the 1st Street headquarters of the organization that provides jobs to gang members trying to turn their lives around, there was little sign of mourning Wednesday. A crowd of mostly Latino men and teenagers with shaved heads, several with gang tattoos, went about their work, their efforts punctuated by jokes and laughter.
The workers say that violent death is something they are accustomed to from their years in the gang life and that it could have easily been them shot.
"It is something we deal with every day, even before we came to Homeboy, with our own families, our friends, people we worked with and played ball with," said Richard Moya, 30, a heavily tattooed employee who spent 10 years in prison for crimes he committed while in a Boyle Heights street gang.
For many people, Homeboy Industries, opened 12 years ago by Father Gregory Boyle in this working-class district just east of downtown, represents both a great hope and a sad glimpse into the reality of gangs in Boyle Heights.
Supporters say it marks the neighborhood's best chance of breaking the cycle of gangs and violence.
But the shootings have brought a reappraisal from the community and Father Boyle, who announced Friday he was shutting down the organization's graffiti-removal program because it puts his employees in too much danger.
In an area that the Los Angeles Police Department says has the highest concentration of gangs in the city -- 60 in the 16 square miles covered by the Hollenbeck division -- many believe it's impossible for many workers at Homeboy Industries to get away from their pasts.
"What a lot of the community sees is ... employees still active in gangs," said LAPD Senior Lead Officer John Pedroza. "A lot of them, the only reason they're there, is for community service. But once they're done, nothing's changed. I know that they can change. I've seen it done .... Their attitude is, 'Give me what everyone else has, and then we can talk about it.' "
Police at first said they believed that Miguel Gomez, 34, was killed June 24 because he was painting over the graffiti of gang members. But LAPD Det. Rick Peterson said Friday he believes Gomez was killed by people he knew in his past, perhaps from his gang days.
