Attacks leave Hemet reeling

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News - MCs in the News

Some Alpha Biker commentary...

Reeling you say... I think Hemet needs to get over itself... they already got $150,000 from the state... the charade is over... if they need to raise more money hold a fuckin' car wash... or maybe layoff some members of the gang task force.

A quote from the head of the gang task force...

“If we weren't doing our jobs, would they be targeting law enforcement? No. They're coming after us because we're impacting their ability to do their job,”

Question: Who the fuck is "they" already?! "They" have not been arrested... no "theys" have been charged with these alleged acts of terrorism... fuckin' enough already... I don't even enjoy writing commentary on this anymore.

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A rural city hidden among pastures, farmland and foothills about 40 miles west of Palm Springs, Hemet is grappling with some troubling urban-style growing pains.

These days, the Indio-sized city on the other side of Mount San Jacinto is known as the place where someone is trying to kill the police.

Its downtown still holds a quaint “Main Street, USA” quality — but lately that vibe has been tempered by a big-city type of tenseness.

Five months ago, someone tried to blow up a regional gang task force office on St. John Street, in the heart of the city, by rerouting a natural gas line through the roof.

It was the first in a series of brazen acts meant to kill or hurt police officers.

No one has been injured or killed in any of these incidents, and why they're happening in the city of about 82,000 residents now is unclear.

Whatever the reason, local law enforcement in Hemet are now in siege mode.

Large iron fences erected this past week enclose the police department parking lot.

A street next to the police station has been closed to through traffic for the past 30 days or so.

And city leaders this past week gave Hemet's city manager the go-ahead to immediately buy whatever is needed to ensure the security of city administrative offices.

“Everyone's concerned I've never seen it hit this close to home,” said lifelong Hemet resident Greg Orizabal, 25, on Wednesday while working the counter at his parents' downtown diner, Oryz Café.

“Holy smokes — five attacks since New Year's, and by the grace of God no one got killed,” said Frederick Nelson, a Hemet resident since 1987.

“I was not aware there was that much presence” of criminal activity, he added.

Nelson had stopped by Jester's Hearing Aid Center on Wednesday. It's a 29-year-old small business that shares a parking lot with the gang task force building.

A Jester's employee said he wasn't too worried about the attacks.

“It's more of a personal attack on the city itself on police, not civilians,” said Jacob.

He asked that his last name be withheld fearing potential retribution because his father is a retired police officer.

“Of course, you worry if it explodes,” Jacob said, referring to the rigged gas line at the neighboring building.

Soon after the incidents began, authorities moved the Hemet/San Jacinto regional gang task force headquarters out of that building.
Who is responsible?

Authorities initially suspected the Vagos, Riverside County's largest outlaw motorcycle gang, committed the Hemet attacks.

But police since have said other groups may be responsible. Vagos members have denied involvement.

Hemet police are still investigating.

“It has nothing to do with the Vagos. A lot of those guys are good guys,” said Hemet resident Chad Wutzke, 27, while talking with friends outside the West Coast Xtreme sporting shop in downtown Hemet.

“Every group has their hustle, but it has nothing to do with attacking cops,” Wutzke said. Vagos members “have jobs. They have families.”

Wutzke said his brother is a Vagos member serving a life sentence for murder. But he added that the murder had nothing to do with the Vagos.

Authorities suspected the Vagos because gang task force officers pulled over and questioned Vagos members leaving a funeral near the task force headquarters two days before the Dec. 31 gas line sabotage.

That made it “reasonable” to suspect the biker gang, said Riverside County sheriff's Capt. Walt Meyer, director of the Riverside County Regional Gang Task Force.

Formed in the 1960s, the Vagos gang has more than 1,000 members and is believed to be into identity theft and drug sales, he said.

The Hemet incidents show that authorities are doing something right, Meyer said.

He previously commanded the Indio sheriff's station, which provides police services to La Quinta, Coachella and Thermal.

“If we weren't doing our jobs, would they be targeting law enforcement? No. They're coming after us because we're impacting their ability to do their job,” Meyer said of whoever is responsible for the series of attacks.

Besides the New Year's Eve natural gas line sabotage, there have been five incidents:

On Feb. 23, someone booby-trapped the gate of the same gang task force building so whoever entered first would be shot.

On March 5, an explosive device was found underneath an unmarked patrol car at a Hemet gas station.

Police say there has been at least one other booby trap uncovered but haven't released details.

On March 19, a 911 caller claimed a police car in the Hemet/San Jacinto area would be blown up in the next 24 to 48 hours.

And in late March and early April four city code enforcement vehicles were set afire at City Hall, while another suspicious fire destroyed a mobile unit at a police firing range.

The gang task force is looking for a new location for its Hemet/San Jacinto regional team, Meyer said.
Multiple sweeps

On March 17, authorities went after 100 suspected Vagos members across four western states in a sweep dubbed “Operation Everywhere.”

They arrested 34 people and hinted the sweep was connected to the Hemet attacks.

“When you try to kill law enforcement officers in this county, you are going to get a very significant response,” Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said the day of the sweep.

It included several homes and businesses in the Coachella Valley, where the Vagos have been since at least 1986, Meyer said.

No one was arrested in the valley.

Authorities declined to say which local businesses they visited but said several were in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs police Lt. Don Fallon said the Vagos haven't caused any trouble locally “but we do keep tabs on their activities.”

During the city's annual “American Heat” motorcycle weekend in October, which the Vagos and other biker gangs attend, Palm Springs police step up foot patrols and bring in specialized units to “keep an eye on what's going on,” Fallon said.
Changing times

Hemet has grown exponentially in the past eight years, attracting younger residents in their 30s and 40s, City Manager Brian Nakamura said.

Drivers on Florida Avenue, a main commercial street, encounter large box retailers such as Target and Home Depot, and chain restaurants such as Chili's Grill & Bar and HomeTown Buffet that have sprung up to accommodate more people.

Combine Hemet with nearby San Jacinto, and it's the third-largest urban center in Riverside County, behind Riverside and Moreno Valley, Nakamura said.

Residents shouldn't feel threatened by the attempts made on police, he said. But they should remain “cautiously cognizant.”

The incidents may be intended to harm police or city officials, but members of the public could be hurt as well, Nakamura added.

“Does Hemet have more gang activity than maybe they had 10 years ago? Yes ” — but so does the rest of Riverside County, Meyer said.

The recent attacks give Hemet a “black eye when it really doesn't need one,” Meyer added.

Tammy Dawson, 26, waited with her 3-year-old son, Joseph, at a bus stop Wednesday on Florida, two blocks from the targeted gang task force building.

She doesn't own a car and regularly catches the bus there to run errands and take Joseph to the doctor, Dawson said.

“It's scary to walk down the street because I know there's going to be more,” Dawson said. “There's been a lot (of attacks). They can always do more.”

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