Part of the community in Echo Park feels itself a victim in the shooting of Charupha Wongwisetsiri, who died at nine years of age. Many residents, who expect to live in a safe place -- or at least want to (and who doesn't?) -- are furious that Cesar Zamora and Steven Castanon, the suspected shooters in Charupha's killing, were released last week from police custody, not charged with a crime in her death. They grieve the little girl who was part of their community, and they want her killer(s) punished. At the very least they want them to go away. I share that feeling. The fact that Charupha died, her family now moving back to Thailand, and the man who shot her may be back home on Kensington Avenue seems intolerable. Hello, neighbor!
The fact that their release attests to the rule of law (as written) seems a defeat of justice. Castanon and Zamora seem guilty of so many things: belonging to a criminal gang, having guns, firing the guns, sitting on a porch when bad people wanted to shoot them, living among non-criminal neighbors, being a bad shot.
In the LA Times stories today and yesterday, police spokesmen have defended the release of Castanon and Zamora, saying they do not have a case because of lack of evidence and the likelihood that the suspects would succesfully claim they acted in self-defense. (When the police admit to not having a case I tend to believe them.) In any case, they argue, it's the man who supposedly tried to shoot at Zamora and Castanon who is the real culprit. Part of the problem is it's not simply individuals but an entire situation that caused Charupha to be shot while playing inside her home.
Rage leads to incoherence, and so does a response to it. People want Castanon and Zamora put away. The police don't have a case, though they have promised to harrass the pair for unrelated matters (Zamora and Castanon "can rest assured that they are high on the radar of the local gang officers," said Police Lt. Paul Vernon to the Times.) And Monday's story included a parenthetical, which reported that Castanon was arrested Monday night on suspicion of weapons possession. It seems a potentially unethical solution -- aren't we all supposed to be persecuted for actual crimes and not just for being generally guilty? Or is it justice? Either way, that's how the legal system has always worked in this country. Sideways.
