Top Los Angeles law enforcement officials and leaders told residents Monday not to fire any weapons to celebrate the new year, warning revelers that they will make every effort to track down shooters.
The appeal for safety has become an annual tradition.
"We do this every year," Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said at a news conference in Lynwood attended by Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. In Orange County today, a similar plea is planned by police and sheriff's officials.
At the Monday event, a flier in English and Spanish with pictures of young children was distributed.
"Love Them, Don't Shoot Them," it read, though officials said they did not know if any of the children had been victims of gun violence.
"What goes up must come down, and what comes down does so with unpleasant circumstances," Baca said in the Lynwood sheriff's station. "Firing your gun into the air is a felony, and we will prosecute any individuals who fire their gun illegally to the fullest extent of the law."
The news conference took place immediately before Baca, Bratton and Ridley-Thomas left for the funeral of Adriana Pizarro.
Pizarro, a Sheriff's Department records clerk, was killed Dec. 20 when she was caught in gunfire near her home in South Los Angeles. Pizarro, 34, worked at the Compton sheriff's station and was described by police investigating the incident as an innocent bystander. Alexander Castro, 23, was also killed in the shooting.
"Mrs. Pizarro died because of a gang shooting out on her street," Baca said. "She didn't have to die, and this is the kind of senseless violence we are working to stop however we can."
Sheriff's officials used the news conference as an opportunity to demonstrate their gunshot locator system, which has been in use since 1999. The ShotSpotter system uses noise sensors and microphones embedded in public places, such as the sides of buildings, to determine where shots are fired, ShotSpotter spokesman Michael Ries said.
Using satellite technology, the system narrows down the gunshot's location to within 10 feet, he said.
"It picks up pretty much everything that goes bang, pop or boom," Ries said. "ShotSpotter only records sound when the sensors go off, and they only go off when a gun is fired -- or something that sounds like gunfire, at least."
