Douglas P. Haubert
Long Beach City Prosecutor
While on a recent ride-along with two Long Beach Police Department West Division officers, I met a young man named Bryan Soriano-Gutierrez. A gang member just 18 years old, he impressed me as a smart kid— the kind of kid who might have a future if he could put the gang life behind him.
Four weeks after I met Bryan Soriano-Gutierrez, he was murdered. He was shot multiple times at close range and left to die around midnight on a Linden Avenue sidewalk near Pacific Coast Highway, just a few blocks from where I met him.
In 2009 a more publicized murder occurred in Long Beach. High school student Melody Ross was shot down in East Long Beach by a gang member who fired into a crowd after a homecoming football game. Tom Vinson, the 18-year-old gangster convicted of murdering Melody Ross, was aiming for people he believed were from a rival Long Beach gang, not caring for the innocent children like Ross who were in the way. Vinson was sentenced this week to serve 155 years to life in state prison.
The federal government recently made a disturbing announcement that more youth are joining gangs. The U.S. Department of Justice’s “2011 Gang Threat Assessment” proclaims there are now 1.4 million gang members belonging to 33,000 criminal street gangs, a 40 percent increase in gang membership over three years.
Statistics do not always paint an accurate picture. The federal report concedes the dramatic increase could also be the result of better reporting by local agencies. No one in law enforcement in Long Beach needs statistics to confirm there are too many gangs.
Besides, here in Long Beach we see more than statistics. We see lives lost.
The night I met him, Soriano-Gutierrez did not run from the police, although many gang members do. In fact, after the officers pulled their car into a parking lot adjacent to the sidewalk where he was walking, Soriano-Gutierrez strolled right up to them.
“Hey, don’t you recognize me?” Soriano-Gutierrez asked the officers. His voice carried no menace, almost a friendly greeting.
“Yes, you look familiar,” one officer answered, visibly searching his memory. “Didn’t we arrest you about a month ago?”
“Yeah,” the youth answered, not flustered in the least. Soriano-Gutierrez spoke to the officers and answered their questions directly and without hesitation. He was even respectful to the officers.
After a minute, both officers remembered their previous encounter with Soriano-Gutierrez, an arrest for selling drugs, in startling detail. “Are you still using?” one officer inquired of Soriano-Gutierrez.
“No way, man. I’ve been doing good,” Soriano-Gutierrez answered too quickly. The officers said they’d like to search him and he agreed. (Since Soriano-Gutierrez was on felony probation he was subject to search by law enforcement at any time, but the officers asked for permission anyway.)
During the search, officers found a small plastic baggy containing several smaller clear plastic baggies. The officers knew the baggies were the kind commonly used to store and sell drugs. The officers also found a matching baggie with marijuana on the sidewalk in the exact place where Sorriano-Gutierrez was standing when the officers drove up to him.
Soriano-Gutierrez denied he was still in the drug business, but seemed to accept that circumstances did not appear to support his position that he’d been “doing good.” A search of his home later that night confirmed he was still using methamphetamine (meth), called the Devil’s Drug because of its addictive qualities.
Soriano-Gutierrez’s past included drug sales and drug use. He was an active member of a gang known to sell meth on the streets of Long Beach. His gang name was “Digital.” I was not there when he got that name, but I can tell you drug dealers use digital scales to measure marketable quantities of narcotics.
The exact circumstances of Digital’s murder are still unknown. But I am confident drugs and the Gang Life are almost certainly directly responsible for his death.
Gang violence affects all of us. Sure, there are blighted areas where gang crime is higher, but it’s like pouring a glass of water into your cupped hand— your hand fills quickly then water spills over and through your fingers.
If we act like one city and close in on the blighted, gang-filled neighborhoods, we can reduce the deadly impact of gangs. In contrast, if we ignore those areas, the Gang Life will perpetuate itself— and grow.
As shown from Soriano-Gutierrez’s demise, the Gang Life is destructive to those who join. In virtually every case, gang members die on the streets, like Soriano-Gutierrez, or behind bars, as will be the case with Tom Vinson.
But the Gang Life can devastate the entire community. As we see from the death of Melody Ross, the Gang Life kills indiscriminately and takes innocent lives. It can affect all of us in Long Beach; that is why we need to respond assertively and as one city, one community.
Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert was elected in 2010. He has been a city attorney and prosecutor for over 12 years. This is part one of a three-part essay on gangs in Long Beach.
