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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: Becca Ward <talorina@deathstar.org>
Subject: Re: Slight twist on gang sign?
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 13:30:56 -0400

> On Sat, 28 Aug 1999 16:04:43 GMT, Michael <a_handy_man@my-deja.com> wrote:

<about an incident in Long Beach, CA, reported in the Los Angeles times,
in which two deaf women were shot after gang members reportedly mistook their sign language for "gang signs">

And on Mon, 30 Aug 1999, JoAnne Schmitz, foaming at the mouth and obviously really just wanting to crush Michael's spirit, and not at all interested in learning anything but simply in undermining Michael's credibility in her meany-headed way, wrote:

> Really. Do you have a cite for this?

I couldn't find anything in the _Los Angeles Times_ that matched the account given by Michael in the details. However, searches in the _Times_ and other California news sources turned up the following similar accounts:

(1) The July 2, 1991 shooting death of Juliet Qualls in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles: Ms. Qualls, 19, was shot in the chest as she was parking her car across the street from her boyfriend's house, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A passenger in the car, 19-year-old Eddie Robinson, was shot in the face and survived. Both Ms. Qualls and Mr. Robinson were deaf. News reports show that there was considerable _speculation_ that the shooters saw Ms. Qualls and Mr. Robinson using sign language and believed they were "flashing" gang signs:

        While a motive for the shooting has not been determined,
        the gunman may have mistaken the couple's use of sign
        language as the flashing of gang symbols -- a common
        challenge among street gangs, authorities said.

        The victims were not gang members and apparently had done
        nothing to provoke an attack, said Detective Dan
        Andrews of the Wilshire Division's homicide unit.

        "It has all the earmarks of a classic gang drive-by
        shooting," Andrews said.  "Because of the gang activity
        in the area, it's not uncommon for gang members to assume
        that other youths in their area are affiliated with rival
        gangs.  It's possible the people responsible for the
        shooting saw these young people signaling each other
        and assumed they were displaying their gang affiliation."

        . . .  A neighbor who said he witnessed the shooting
        recalled in an interview that he passed Qualls and
        Robinson as they walked away [from a store earlier].
        At the time, there was no one in the area and the
        couple were communicating in sign language . . .

        About two minutes later, after the deaf couple
        drove a block and a half south on Carmona, a
        white Jeep Cherokee passed by, the witness said.  The
        headlights went out and a passenger reached out
        of the window with a pistol. . . .

John H. Lee, "Slaying May Be Linked to Pair's Use of Sign Language," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B), July 6, 1991. A report in the _Los Angeles Daily News_ revealed more rampant conjecture:

        "It's not uncommon as a prelude to a shooting by gang
        members to exchange hand signs, indicating what gang
        they're in," said Detective Dan Andrews of the Los
        Angeles Police Department.  "These folks were not
        gang members, but they were making letters or gestures
        with their hands." . . .

        Gangs sometimes mistake certain clothing for the
        "uniforms" of their rivals, but in this case the
        victims were in T-shirts and other casual clothes,
        Andrews said.

        "There was nothing in their dress or demeanor that
        would indicate they were in a gang," he said.

        That leaves the sign language.

        . . .  "Someone that puts their hands in the area of
        their chest and does something is doing one of two
        things:  he's either making his gang sign or he's
        talking in sign language," Andrews said.  "I think
        anybody with some sophistication would recognize
        sign language, but the gang members may not be
        that astute."

Robert Jablon (Associated Press), as printed in the _Los Angeles Daily News,_ "Use of Sign Language Linked to Woman's Death," July 7, 1991.

I didn't see any articles indicating that the shooter had been arrested and had confirmed that the sign language had been the motivator. I suppose it's just as possible that Ms. Qualls, having seen the headlights go out, flashed her own ...

(2) The February 4, 1994 shooting of a couple in Pico Rivera, twenty miles east of Los Angeles: The unnamed couple, both of whom were deaf were driving to dinner. A pickup truck followed them into a parking light; the gunman leapt out and shot through the windshield of the couple's car. The woman was shot in the face, but survived. Her fiance was unharmed. Again, there was much speculation that the couple's use of sign language:

        A gunman opened fire on a couple in Pico Rivera apparently
        because the two had exchanged a series of hand signals that
        may have been interpreted as the flashing of gang signs. . . .

        Neither the woman nor her boyfriend, both of whom are
        deaf, is a gang member, and a motive for the shooting has
        not been determined, Sheriff's Sgt. Pat Fallis said.
        But American Sign Language hand gestures have
        occasionally been misconstrued as gang signs.

"Sign Language Gestures May Have Sparked Attack," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B), February 12, 1994.

        A woman communicating in sign language with her fiance
        as they drove to dinner was shot in the face by gang
        members who apparently thought she was flashing gang
        signs.

        "This is not a standard case of mistaken identity,"
        Deputy Margarita Robles, a member of the sheriff's
        anti-gang team, said Thursday. . . .  "I suspect her
        hand signals were misinterpreted as gang signs."

AP, "Woman Using Sign Language Shot by a Gang Member," _San Francisco Chronicle, February 12, 1994; _Orange County Register,_ (STATE BRIEFLY), February 12, 1994.

(3) The January 28, 1990 slaying in Granada Hills of Cesar Vieira and the wounding of his brother Edward, both of whom were deaf. The Vieira brothers were on a motorcycle at the intersection of Devonshire Street and Balboa Boulevard when a car containing 16-year-old Joey Bellinger (of Long Beach) and four friends pulled up next to them. Bellinger was reported to be the head of a local gang of white youths that was associated with a West Los Angeles-based skinhead gang. News reports stated that Bellinger became involved in the gang and dropped out of high school after the 1987 rape/murder of his 16-year-old sister, Michelle. (An unnamed 15-year-old was arrested and convicted for Michelle's murder.) Bellinger's criminal activities led a rival gang to make the Bellinger family home the target of a drive-by shooting in July 1989.

Reportedly Bellinger and the Vieira brothers became involved in a "stare-down" and both vehicles pulled into a nearby parking lot. The Vieira brothers, who had limited speaking skills, communicated in sign language. A friend of Bellinger's later came forward, at the request of Bellinger's father, to say that he was in the car, understood sign language, and that Bellinger acted in self-defense when he shot the Vieira brothers. Police discounted that claim, however, stating that they had interviewed all of Bellinger's friends and none had said that they interpreted the Vieiras' sign language as threatening.

Another witness, who was sitting in the back seat with Bellinger, told police that Bellinger flashed a gang sign for his own gang. One of the brothers responded by flashing a middle-finger.

Bellinger fled to Utica, New York, where he stayed with a friend of his mother's. Susan Alguire, a high school friend of Bellinger's mother, had provided room and board at the mother's request, but had not known that Bellinger was wanted on a federal warrant for unlawful interstate flight to avoid prosecution on the state murder charge. He was captured in early March 1990 in New York state, after the FBI was tipped to his whereabouts.

Sources: Carlos Lozano and Tracey Kaplan, "Slaying Suspect's Father Skips Police Meeting," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B), February 6, 1990 at 3; Greg Braxton, "Fugitive in Shooting of 2 Deaf Men Held in N.Y.," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part B), March 4, 1990 at 1; Hector Tobar and Josh Meyer, "Family Torn by Tragedy Faces More Troubles After Killing," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part A), March 18, 1990 at 3.

Bellinger pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in June 1992. He was sentenced on October 27, 1992 to the maximum term of 12 years in the California Youth Authority. Although no news reports expressly state that Bellinger claimed to have misunderstood the Vieira brothers' sign language as gang signs, the _Los Angeles Times_ report on his sentencing stated:

        A man convicted of killing a man and wounding his brother after
        mistaking their sign language for aggressive gang signs was
        sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in the California Youth
        Authority.

"12-Year Sentence in Death of Hearing-Impaired Man," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B) October 28, 1992. Oddly, the _Times_ also repeats the police explanation that one of the brothers had raised a middle finger in response to Bellinger's own gang sign.

Other stories that turned up in the California news sources:

A March 1995 attack on a deaf man in which the assailants gouged out one eye after reportedly mistaking his sign language for gang signs of obscene gestures. Associated Press, "Suspects Gouge Eyes of Deaf Man During Attack," as reported in the _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-A), March 5, 1995.

A "special" about a mother of a deaf child who "sometimes is afraid to communicate with her son in sign language, just in case the gestures might be mistaken as some obscure gang signal." Ed Bond, "Making a Difference in Your Community Leveling the Playing Field for Deaf Kids," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B), December 13, 1994.

An unusual case in which one deaf gang member killed another deaf member of the same gang. Several witnesses were deaf, the judge was hearing-impaired, and the trial proceedings required an interpreter certified not only in formal American Sign Language, but also a less stylized sign language used in the defendant's and victim's community. At issue during pretrial motions was whether the interpreter present at his initial interrogation -- who was not certified in the "informal" sign the defendant typically used -- had properly interpreted his demand for an attorney. The defendant eventually entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. Sources: Gordon Dillow, "Silence, Signs Are Keys to Murder Trial Courts: Most of the Main Figures in An Unusual Case are Deaf," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B) January 23, 1994; Thom Mrozek, "Deaf Man Agrees to 2nd-Degree Murder Plea," _Los Angeles Times,_ (Part-B), March 2, 1994 at 1.

Becca Ward