Killing Highlights Brutal Border
In the area around Hamilton High School, the distance of a few city blocks can mean the difference between a million-dollar home on a tree-lined street and a block of dense apartments struggling with crime and blight.
The slaying earlier this week of 16-year-old Hamilton student Ana Interiano has evoked sadness over her loss but also highlighted a stark economic and social divide along a stretch of Robertson Boulevard on the Westside.
Los Angeles police said that Ana was walking home from summer school on Tuesday when someone stepped out of a white sport utility vehicle and fired several rounds down an alley near Robertson and Cadillac Avenue. Police said Ana had no gang ties and appeared to be an innocent victim. They believe the assailants were gang members and that some of the classmates walking with Ana may have had a gang affiliation.
Late Thursday, two young Latino males were shot to death at Cadillac and South Garth avenues, mere blocks from Tuesday's shooting. The latest shootings, which appeared to be gang-related, occurred at about 8:15 p.m. as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attended a nearby vigil for Ana, police said.
Ana lived with her family in one of the apartments east of the high school. The east side of Robertson includes rows of apartments as well as more expensive single-family homes.
On the west side of Robertson are the affluent communities of Beverlywood and Cheviot Hills, where the choicest real estate approaches Beverly Hills standards.
A Times analysis of last year's LAPD crime records tells the tale: There were 121 assaults and robberies in the neighborhood around Cadillac Avenue east of Robertson Boulevard. To the west of the boulevard, there was one robbery and no assaults.
People who live on the east side of Robertson said their neighborhood has come a long way in the last few years.
Real estate values have risen, and new residents have come in to renovate old houses.
Still, they said, crime remains a problem -- especially tagging and scattered gang activity. There was a drive-by shooting in May.
"It's tragic, but we've been kind of waiting for the shoe to drop," said the Rev. Howard Dotson, the pastor of Palms Westminster Presbyterian Church near Hamilton High.
People come home and gang members say, "No, you can't park here
Collins said she is constantly sending out e-mail to police officers and the neighborhood attorney, forwarding residents' concerns about suspected gang members harassing residents.
