Gang Crime Continues To Climb In Walla Walla
WALLA WALLA -- The KEPR Action News Crime Tracker is looking at gang crime in Walla Walla. We found crime is getting worse as the months go on, and while the summer wasn't as violent as expected the numbers are still up year to year.
"There is a gang problem here and it has gotten worse," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Ramon Zamora has lived in Walla Walla his entire life and has seen the ebb and flow of gang violence.
"Growing up there wasn't much for us to do," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
It's why Ramon started a boxing club to keep kids off the street and into something more positive.
"It's an avenue to come and if they've got aggression, if they've got something on their mind, if they need some stress that they just need to relieve, hitting the heavy bag is an awesome therapy for that," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Finding that new avenue is more critical than ever.
So far this year, Walla Walla has seen 174 crimes from gang members.
That's already 44 more crimes than what happened in all of last year.
Ramon believes kids are following the leader into trouble.
"It's a lot of young youth I think just kind of running in groups, either scared or just nothing else to do or just like I said being followers," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
At the start of the summer, Walla Walla Police Department's gang unit expected a very violent summer.
Action News checked up on that and found between June and September, there were high levels of gang crime, but still police say it wasn't as bad as anticipated.
They believe a public police presence helped curb the crime.
"I'm constantly telling them that gangs isn't the way to go," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Ramon Zamora says that he started the program in his home with 7 kids.
Now he has up to 50.
"There is a gang problem here and it has gotten worse," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Ramon Zamora has lived in Walla Walla his entire life and has seen the ebb and flow of gang violence.
"Growing up there wasn't much for us to do," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
It's why Ramon started a boxing club to keep kids off the street and into something more positive.
"It's an avenue to come and if they've got aggression, if they've got something on their mind, if they need some stress that they just need to relieve, hitting the heavy bag is an awesome therapy for that," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Finding that new avenue is more critical than ever.
So far this year, Walla Walla has seen 174 crimes from gang members.
That's already 44 more crimes than what happened in all of last year.
Ramon believes kids are following the leader into trouble.
"It's a lot of young youth I think just kind of running in groups, either scared or just nothing else to do or just like I said being followers," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
At the start of the summer, Walla Walla Police Department's gang unit expected a very violent summer.
Action News checked up on that and found between June and September, there were high levels of gang crime, but still police say it wasn't as bad as anticipated.
They believe a public police presence helped curb the crime.
"I'm constantly telling them that gangs isn't the way to go," Ramon Zamora Jr. said.
Ramon Zamora says that he started the program in his home with 7 kids.
Now he has up to 50.
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