A day after a security guard shot and killed a gunman during a Wednesday night melee at the 22nd annual Samoan Flag Day Festival, Samoan Chief Tua'au Pele Faletogo was fielding anxious telephone calls from people with two pressing questions:
Is the event at Carson's Victoria Regional Park still open? Is it safe?
"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shut us down for today," he told one of the callers Thursday, as deputies turned prospective celebrants away at the entrance gates. "All the wonderful cultural programs we had scheduled for the evening have been canceled. I feel really bad."
Also looming is a larger question: Will local conflicts doom the festival in the future?
Authorities said the fatal shooting took place after a gunfight broke out between rival Pacific Islander gangs at the crowded, family-oriented festival held just north of the 405 Freeway in the shadow of the Goodyear blimp's takeoff and landing zone.
The deadly shooting was not the first during the festival. Four years ago, a 24-year-old Bellflower man died after being shot multiple times by suspected gang members just outside the fence enclosing the event designed to encourage youths to be proud of their language, heritage and culture.
"It's become dangerous to do something good for the community," said Faletogo, who chairs the city's Planning Commission. "Tongan and Samoan rivalries are out of control."
(Another tragedy occurred in 1995, when a man collapsed and died of heart and kidney failure after joining a Flag Day ceremonial dance to celebrate the $15.9-million judgment that a jury awarded him and 35 others in ruling that they had been brutalized or falsely arrested by sheriff's deputies at a bridal shower in 1989.)
After Thursday's meeting, sheriff's and city officials shut down the festival for one day and called a halt to any nighttime activities for the duration of the weeklong event, which ends Saturday.
After conferring with Carson Mayor Jim Dear, Sheriff's Capt. Todd Rogers and Faletogo, they also decided to allow a cricket tournament involving teams from as far away as Samoa and Hawaii to continue today and Saturday, but without audiences.
In addition, 192nd Street was closed to traffic from Main Street on the western edge of Victoria Park to Towne Avenue on the eastern edge to eliminate the possibility of drive-by shootings.
"There will be a very heavy police presence," Rogers said. "Very heavy."
