Neighborhood gangs responsible for violence that ‘makes no sense, whatsoever,’ public safety director says

By Brendan Kirby

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — One of the striking parts of Monday’s testimony in the Ladd-Peebles Stadium shooting case was the role police said gangs played in the Oct. 15 incident.

A Mobile police detective testified that the three defendants and four of the victims were members of rival gangs. But that does not necessarily mean national-level organizations with familiar names, according to Mobile Public Safety Director Lawrence Battiste.

“You know, Webster’s describes gangs as a group of people acting together,” said Battiste, holding up a copy of the dictionary for emphasis. “And so when we talk about gangs most of the time, we always say this: We don’t have gains in the traditional sense of a Bloods and a Crips here in Mobile. But we do have neighborhood rivals that act in concert together to create problems in our community.”

At a preliminary hearing for two people charged with attempted murder, Detective John Scroggins testified that bad blood had been simmering between two rival gangs. Those involved, he said, were open on social media about their affiliations.

It boiled over, the detective testified Monday, at the Williamson-Vigor game. Five people suffered gunshot wounds.

Battiste said he could not talk specifically about the Ladd case, but he told FOX10 News on Tuesday that in general, Mobile has faced gang-like violence for years. He said the street enforcement team of the Mobile Police Department works hard to learn about those loose affiliations and identify their members.

These neighborhood rivals are responsible for a large chunk of the seemingly random shootings that Mobile has experienced in recent months,” Battiste said.

Historically, local gang activity has centered on drugs. A federal grand jury last year, for instance, brought drug charges against 40 people connected to a group known as the “Crossley Hills Drug Trafficking Organization.”

But Battiste says these days, it’s less about criminals organizing drug rings.

“I can tell you today that a lot of the reasons we’ve had some of the violence that’s occurring makes no sense, whatsoever,” he said. “I mean, it’s because somebody looked at somebody the wrong way. It’s because somebody bumped into somebody. It’s because somebody said ‘hello’ to somebody else’s girlfriend.”

For their part, the lawyers for the two defendants who appeared in court in the Ladd case, downplayed the gang connection after Monday’s hearing.

“We’re not gonna concede that he’s affiliated with any gang,” said Dennis Knizley, who represents Jai Scott.

Knizley said any gang connection is irrelevant, anyone, since his client was unarmed during the shooting.

“Now, some people may be a member of a gang that he associates with,” Knizley added. “That could be that could be the case, but we’re not conceding that.”

Attorney Art Powell, who represents a teenage defendant, said some of the people at Ladd the night may be involved with gangs but not his client.

“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “Our client doesn’t have anything to do with a gang. I questioned the detective about that. There’s no evidence that he has any involvement with a gang.”

Battiste called for more efforts at early intervention.

“I have often said, time and time again, there’s one place where we can have the most impact on some of this negative behavior as it relates to conflict resolution. And that’s our public school system,” he said. “I say that simply because that’s the only place where we have a captive audience. They go to school for eight hours a day.”

Battiste said these crimes are hard to investigate because police get little cooperation from either side of a violent dispute. He said the victims usually prefer retribution to police.

The director said the typically young offenders often do not receive significant punishment.

“A lot of times, the courts are limited in what they do,” he said. “And it’s not until they age out of being juveniles and they become adults that we really have the ability and leverage to really hold them accountable for their behavior.”

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