L.A. Gangs’ Hashtag Bet: Kill 100 People in 100 Days
After the death of a Rollin 100 gang member, Los Angeles gangs have issued a challenge to kill 100 people as fast as possible. One of the first victims appears to be a 4-year-old boy.
(Daily Beast) – Under the hashtag #100Days100Nights, users on Instagram and Twitter are issuing a stark warning: Two Los Angeles gangs are betting which one can kill 100 people—in a gang, or innocent—within the next 100 days.
A law enforcement source confirmed the reports exclusively to The Daily Beast on Monday night.
The bet—which follows the death of “KP,” a member of the Rollin 100 gang—was allegedly made last week.
Gang members say it will remain “on” for 100 days straight—and innocent people driving between the streets of Western and Normandie in Los Angeles could be risking their lives over a game on Twitter.
Users on social media have tagged images and videos with the hashtag expressing support for the movement, brandishing guns and firing fighting words. Posts now appear chastising neighboring gangs for participating in bloodsport.
The shooting that kicked off a series of violent crimes throughout the weekend occurred on Thursday evening at about 9:50 p.m. on the 2000 block of West 99th Street. A woman and two boys, ages 4 and 11, were wounded after a suspect walked up to their car and opened fire. The shooter is still at large.
Police sources have confirmed that the posts online have been taken very seriously, leading to an increase in officer deployment and other adjustments.
For the family of KP, #100Days100Nights is despicable.
“It’s making him look like a bad person. It’s not like he started this and got killed behind it. He had no control over what’s going on with #100Days100Nights,” one of KP’s family members, who chose to remain anonymous to protect the family’s safety, tells The Daily Beast over the phone.
Contrary to what is being portrayed on the same social networks pushing for the hashtag gang war, KP was a full-time single father dedicated to showing his son a different lifestyle. After the birth of his child, his family says he had turned his life around. While he was still loosely affiliated with a gang, the family says he mostly kept to himself and did not participate in gang-related activities.
“He was always in his [son’s] life, from walking him to school in the morning to walking to pick him up from school,” says the family member.
KP kept his son in sports year-round so he wouldn’t follow in his same footsteps, and even coached his youth football team. His family has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for a proper burial.
As the 100 days loom, the neighborhood has taken several calls to action. A civil rights group has planned a community meeting to ask rival gangs to call an immediate ceasefire.
“With the shootings, I feel like all of that is unnecessary. I can’t say for them how they should feel about the situation—whether they should go about their revenge or not—I just feel like they shouldn’t go about it that way,” says KP’s family member.
In the past year, Los Angeles has seen a surge in crime after years of decline. Overall, the increase is about 14 percent higher than last year, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Charlie Beck told the police commission in March of this year.
This past weekend in South Los Angeles, the uptick in violent crime was evident, and likely tied to #100Daysand100Nights. The 77th District, which contains some of L.A.’s most dangerous neighborhoods, witnessed 11 people shot.
The first occurred around 4 p.m. on Saturday at the intersection of 81st and Hoover streets. A suspect drove up to a man in his car and unloaded a round of bullets before fleeing. The victim, 47-year-old Anthony Alonzo Cudger, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are still determining a motive, but sources close to the victim believe it had to do with an argument that took place at a gang member’s funeral just a little over a mile away.
Seven blocks away, less than an hour after the first shooting, another man in his 40s was shot in his car at the intersection of 75th and Figueroa streets. The victim was able to drive himself to the hospital, but his assailant managed to get away.
A little after 9 p.m., authorities found a man in his 20s shot in the stomach at Hyde Park Boulevard and Brynhurst Avenue, and rushed him to a hospital.
About 35 minutes later, a gunman shot three people who were walking down the street at 47th Street and Budlong Avenue, less than four miles from the last shooting. The victims, two men and one woman, were all taken to a hospital. One is in critical condition.
There was also another car-to-car shooting that occurred on Sunday shortly after midnight, according to City News Service. The victim, a man in his 20s, told police that someone shot at him and wounded him in his buttocks, possibly over road rage. He was taken to a hospital, and the shooter fled the scene, according to LAist.
Now, KP’s family is pleading for the end of violence.
“It’s just gonna put them in the same situation: You either are going to die behind this or go to jail behind this,” the family member says. “It’s not gonna make a difference, it’s just making it worse.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/28/la-gangs-hashtag-bet-kill-100-people-in-100-days.html
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