TARGETED street-corner shrines to shooting victims

Sheriff in Los Angeles County says street-corner shrines to shooting victims are themselves attracting violence.Sheriff Lee Baca told the Los Angeles Times that mourners paying respects to slain gang members are themselves becoming targets.
"We have to realize there is a new reality here," said Baca. "Street memorials are no longer safe places to go. They are being targeted by gang members."The Times said Wednesday that Baca's department was investigating a Monday night shooting in which two people were killed at the memorial in South Los Angeles to a gang member who had been gunned down last weekend.While violence at shrines has been on the uptick in Los Angeles and in other cities, LA officials are reluctant to ban the makeshift gatherings or have police stand guard."I have always been very hesitant to regulate these memorials because they are part of the culture of these communities and the healing that they have to go through," Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn told the Times. "I'm not going to tell people how to grieve, mourn or remember someone."