Pubdate: Wed, 27 Dec 2006
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2006 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159

ISSUE -- A KNOWN GANG MEMBER GUNS DOWN A MAN AT A CROWDED MALL ON
CHRISTMAS EVE

Boynton Beach's out-of-control gang violence became a national 
spectacle this weekend. That's what will happen when a known member 
of a notorious gang pulls out a gun at a crowded shopping mall, on 
Christmas Eve no less, and shoots a man dead in front of thousands of 
holiday shoppers.

Not the way an up-and-coming city with grand downtown revival plans 
wants to raise its profile.

No matter how great its revitalization turns out, Boynton Beach will 
never be the shopping and entertainment destination it aspires to be 
unless it clamps down on the gang activity it has yet to take 
seriously enough. The Boynton Beach Mall shooting, reported on 
national network news, should be the wake-up call the city's 
leadership needs to get its act together.

The dead man, Berno Charlemond, was no angel. He had a criminal 
record and was arrested last month for bringing a gun to the Boynton 
Mall. So some may be tempted to view his slaying as just another 
incident of "bad guys against bad guys," as Mayor Jerry Taylor once 
described the city's 2004 spike in drug-related violence. But in a 
city that saw dozens of gang-related drive-bys this year, innocents 
also get caught in the gunfire -- like the landscaper killed in 
August. In fact, it was a miracle no one else was hurt Sunday.

The two officers who chased known San Castle Boys gang member Jesse 
Cesar through the mall after he allegedly shot Charlemond showed 
restraint for not firing their own weapons and further endangering 
cowering shoppers. But it was plain luck, not solid police work, that 
a gunman who killed one man then shot at police before holing himself 
up in a packed Dillard's store did not claim more victims.

Boynton dodged a bullet, but the shooting exposed the city's gang 
problem for what it is: a crisis that deserves urgent and decisive 
action. Officials have added officers in high-crime areas and the 
mayor now recognizes that gang violence is a priority concern, but 
that hasn't made a difference yet. The city has to find out what will 
if it wants to safeguard its future.

BOTTOM LINE: Stop gang violence, now.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine