Varrio Redlands

The arrests earlier this month of four young men who are suspected in last year's double homicide in North Redlands brought a sense of relief to residents who hoped police would solve the shooting deaths of Quinn McCaleb and Andrew Jackson.
But they were also a wake-up call.

The news that all four of those who were arrested had ties to a local street gang, Varrio Redlands, also gave residents a cause for concern - that gangs are a growing reality in a city known for its charming downtown, historic homes and flourishing university.

Mario Saucedo, a Redlands resident, said he is well aware of gangs in North Redlands. He hasn't run into them personally, but Saucedo hears of the fear that gangs bring to neighborhoods

Eric Lindquist and Josiah Bruny listen to Stephan Reed of Redlands rap during a recording session at Redlands Community Center on Tuesday. Bruny hopes Music Changing Lives can be an alternative to gang life for many local youths. (John Valenzuela Staff Photographer)and sees the graffiti they leave behind.
The city and its police department are proactive in keeping gangs at bay, Saucedo said, but he's still concerned.

"I think they are growing, and I think there's a lot of opportunity for recruitment," said Saucedo, explaining that more young people don't care about school and drop out. "It's a battle," he said.

Redlands isn't usually synonymous with street gangs. The city and its gangs didn't even harbor a mention in the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment by the U.S. Department of Justice.

But while Redlands may not have the gang issues of neighboring cities, its gang population is growing. Police say Redlands has 454 documented gang members. A decade ago, the city

had 318, according to a 2002 study of the city by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
"We've always had a pretty good gang population," Redlands Sgt. Mike Reiss said, days after police announced the arrests of Anthony John Legaspi, 18, John David Salazar, 22, Adrian Powers, 18, and Jose Lara, 28, in the deadly shooting of McCaleb and Jackson.

McCaleb, 17, and Jackson, 16, were fatally shot at 7 p.m. Jan. 5, 2011, on the playground at the Cinnamon Creek Apartments on Oxford Drive, near Post Street.

Two others were wounded, including Jordan James Howard, who was shot in the eye. A fifth person escaped unhurt.

Authorities have not revealed a motive for the shooting.

Legaspi, Salazar and Powers are each charged with two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and gun and street-gang allegations. Lara is charged as an accessory to murder after the fact.

At the time of the shooting, Legaspi and Powers were juveniles; prosecutors, however, are charging them as adults. All four men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and return to court April 4 for a status hearing.


'We don't have a gang problem'

Mayor Pete Aguilar did not return phone calls for this story, and attempts to reach other city officials were unsuccessful.

But law enforcement officials are quick to point to Redlands' low numbers of gang members, compared to other cities.

Redlands' 454 gang members are only 1.1 percent of the 40,000 gang members in San Bernardino County.

Still, police acknowledge that gangs breed violence.

"Whenever you have gang members, you're going to have gang-on-gang violence," Reiss said.

At the news conference announcing the arrests in the fatal shooting, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said Redlands remains a safe city to raise a family.

But that hasn't prevented them from committing numerous offenses in this

Stephan Reed of Redlands during a recording session at Redlands Community Center on Tuesday. (John Valenzuela Staff Photographer)traditionally quiet community.
Vehicle thefts, residential burglaries, ID thefts and armed robberies are all local crimes that Redlands gangs participate in, Reiss said.

A small part of those occur in Redlands, and the majority occur elsewhere, Reiss said. He attributes that to the city's small-town atmosphere, where everyone knows everyone, he said.

Nevertheless, a gang shooting is unusual for Redlands, according to Reiss. And he doesn't believe there's any additional gang activity in the city as a result of the January 2011 shooting.

Reiss credits the department's tough stand against gangs for keeping their activities under control.

"We have gang members, but we don't have a gang problem because of the work our people do," Reiss said.


'Really afraid ...'

Maybe there's no problem -- but there's concern.

Before the January 2011 shooting, the Redlands City Council wanted to close the Redlands Community Center early.

Josiah Bruny, founder of Music Changing Lives, said he warned the council that if they closed the doors early, tension and violence on the street could increase and hurt the nonprofit he founded, Music Changing Lives - a non-profit organization dedicated to mentoring underprivileged youths in the area. Through music, and a locker room that he converted to a recording studio, Bruny's program has been dedicated to turning violence and gangs away from the city.

When the shooting occurred, Bruny said it "hit home."

"Because we predicted it, and that's what we're fighting against," Bruny said. "We are volunteering our time at no additional cost to keeping the doors open longer to keep these kids off the streets, and this is what happened."

Since the shooting, Bruny said he has seen a decrease in attendance at the Redlands Community Center, which he finds disheartening.

"I think a lot of kids are really afraid not to even come out in certain areas, and we've noticed that there's a stigma going around that they think it's going to happen to them, and it's sad," he said. "I don't think these kids should have to feel like that in their own backyard."

Bruny, however, is not giving up on his mission.

He recently created a second branch of MCL in Moreno Valley, where he works with youths in that area, a city known for a high dropout rate and gang activity.

Bruny said he's been working with the Moreno Valley Unified School District to reach teens at local schools, a far cry from his experience working with the Redlands Unified School District.

For the past three years, he said, he has been trying to persuade district officials to let him visit campuses around the Redlands area to let them know about the Music Changing Lives program and the realities of gangs in the area and beyond with no luck.

"I don't have that same connection (like I do in Moreno Valley) and that's what we're trying to do," Bruny said. "No particular reason why, it just hasn't worked out. We're looking to create that same connection ... where we can work with kids on school campuses and let them know they have an out."

Bruny said he mostly gets the word out about the MCL program through Redlands' weekly Market Night, to some success.

"It's a shame that we have this full-blown studio and many in the community don't know anything about it," he said. "I want to stay on a positive note with these kids now and tell them to live better and lead by example.

"I use myself as an example - where I've come from, where I'm going."

Sorry I had thought that article had said NSR was the ones who did that shooting in Redlands. It was actually Varrio Redlands, im glad I finally ran across that shit again.

No problems, and thanks for clearing that up. I have family that moved out that way years ago. I recently spoke to a relative of mine who attended Redlands High School and he said he wasn't aware of there being any homegrown gangs until his junior year. According to him, neither Varrio Redlands nor North Side Redlands are particularly active these days, though he did mentioned that NSR was active during the 90's and goes back to at least the 70's, while Varrio Redlands came about during the 90's and was always under the shadow of NSR.

Also, Varrio Redlands is located directly south of the freeway, while NSR is everything north of Colton avenue.

I also know that the vast majority of the blacks who moved to Post street are SB transplants, and to a lesser extent, LA transplants. Apparently, the "outrageous crips", which he claims are no longer active, were a mixed group of dudes from CGC, PPHG, and some of the locals which started up at the high school some years ago.

Yea I heard they have close ties with the Capone Family Crips too. I wonder if they are like HSC and DP or if they strictly recruited people not from hoods already.

thats the same article I read. The North Redlands probably threw me off in the beginning. And the dude on here that was talking shit guess what? Yeh he's from Varrio Redlands...how much you wanna be if these alegations are true this dummy was dry snitching his ass off...as we all know by now this site is frequented by the law. SMH dummy.

you know what nevermind it was some white boy saying nsr did it and all that bs. The dude from Varrio Redlands didn't really say nothing. Its another little dude come to think of it that is on that silly site the hood up that was from varrio redlands talking all that on that site i'm sure investigators go on that site too. But just look at the number of views the "Redlands shooting" thread has its almost 2300 but only lik 24 replies