D.A. Hestrin discusses efforts to stop gang violence in the Coachella Valley
A gang injunction that applies to nearly 350 gang members, including the man accused of shooting a deputy.
Read: Suspect accused of shooting deputy arrested in Mexicali
District Attorney Mike Hestrin says this isn’t the first time Davila violated the injunction.
“It prohibits all members of the gang from engaging in certain activities, such as loitering, associating together, wearing colors, flashing gang signs and, of course, committing crimes,” said Hestrin. “One of the misconceptions of a gang injunction is just anybody who we may think is a gang member or looks like a gang member. That’s not the case. Many, many hours of work went towards identifying and letting the court know who is on the gang injunction and what they did to get there.”
The injunction was filed against members of Varrio Coachela Rifa, or VCR in February 2016, which is one of five Coachella Valley gangs to be served injunctions.
“This gang that we targeted here is one of the most violent in the county. We see that from shootings, murders,” said Hestrin. “When we looked at that, that is what really drove us. The gang has taken over, in many ways, the city, terrorizing law abiding citizens and all of our efforts up to that point have not worked to diminish the influence of the gang.”
Last July, Davila, who is known to be an active member of VCR, violated the injunction. He pleaded guilty and was put on probation.
Davila allegedly violated his probation, didn’t appear in court and then violated the injunction again last week, when he shot at a Sheriff’s deputy more than five times.
Read: Sheriff’s Department releases new details on deputy shot & gang member arrested
“We’ve been through a lot in this county with the murder of the two PS officers. All of us in law enforcement, my heart sank,” said Hestrin. “This is not something we can keep happening, we’ve charged him with very serious crimes and we take this very serious and we will prosecute him to the full extent of the law.”
Hestrin is working to make the injunction permanent. A final decision is expected by the end of this year.
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
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