Raid! Toonerville Gang Taken Down in North Atwater Village

FROM THE LAPD: "Today, the Northeast Division of the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a focused and deliberate raid on the Toonerville Gang in the Northern part of Atwater Village including the Chevy Chase Park Areas surrounding the Community Center.

"Your NOE LAPD Officers and Detectives were able to arrest suspected gang members that were recently served with warrants since the Toonerville Gang Injunction was enacted into law in Los Angeles County."

• LA Times reports police made 20 arrests, including 4 murder suspects, confiscating 58 weapons.
• Glendale News-Press quotes LAPD Capt. Bill Murphy saying Toonerville had "terrorized" Chevy Chase Park and that ongoing police programs are going to "turn that neighborhood."
  
• 89.3 KPCC also says police will remain in the area – as they did when they targeted the nearby Drew Street Gang.

And at least one reader of this blog was caught in the fray. Via email: "I heard gunshots at 4:00 am and a helicopter was circling my street with the spotlight shining into my windows. Then, when I went to leave this morning, the freaking SWAT team was on my lawn. They told me the whole neighborhood was on lock down and that I couldn't leave... They finally let me leave around 9am..."

Tonight officials from LAPD, City Council President Eric Garcetti's office, and the LA City Attorney's office will discuss the raid and ongoing anti-gang activity in the neighborhood. Atwater Village Community Meeting:

• Thursday July 9, 2009, 6:00pm
• New Hope Chapel
• 2861 Los Feliz Blvd.