Yakima cracking down on gangs

YAKIMA – Yakima police have arrested a man sought in the June 7 wounding of a Michigan woman who was visiting her family.

The arrest on Tuesday came a day after police announced they have temporarily reassigned 20 officers to crack down on gang violence.

Jesus Cazarez, 18, had been sought by police since 23-year-old Marie Richmond of Lansing, Mich., was hit by a stray bullet fired in what was described as a gang fight. The bullet struck an artery in Richmond’s thigh, and she was at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center for three days.

Cazarez, a reputed gang member, turned himself in to police Tuesday afternoon. He was booked into the Yakima County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault.

As many as six officers per shift have been bolstering regular patrols in a 60-block area since Thursday, following two recent shootings that injured innocent bystanders.

Police Chief Sam Granato said Monday that many of the officers are from the city’s traffic division. As of Monday, the operation already had resulted in the arrests of at least four gang members on warrants, he said.

Granato added no timetable has been set for the duration of the crackdown.

Since May 7, there have been at least six gang shootings in the city, including the fatal May 18 shooting of 20-year-old Leonardo A. Perez. Police say shootings began to escalate after his death.

In one case, 13-year-old Yaneli Ramirez was hit in the abdomen when bullets were fired into her home. That attack has baffled authorities, who have described the girl’s family as unconnected with gangs.

A week later, the stray bullet struck Richmond, who questioned why the city’s elected officials don’t seem more outraged about gang violence.

“It seems like one of council members’ goals should be to stop the gang violence,” she told the Yakima Herald-Republic. “They should protect the actual citizens who’ve always lived here. My grandma has been in that house forever.”