Byline: By Abraham Kwok, Staff writer
When neighbors across the street fired shotgun rounds this past New Year's Eve, Bob and
Penny Brophy dutifully dialed Phoenix police.
Officers swooped to the Brophys' tiny block home in south Phoenix within minutes -- ''the smoke and the acrid smell were still hanging in the air,'' Penny Brophy recalled -- and the couple pointed to a trio of men who had discharged a gun and told officers they wanted to prosecute.
What happened next amazed them.
''The officers told us to get back inside our home and lock our doors,'' Penny Brophy said. ''We have three doors, and by the time I did as I was told and returned to the window, the cops were gone. All six patrol cars.''
When the same neighbors rang in 1996 hours later with more gunfire, the Brophys did nothing.
The incident underscores the challenges greeting a Phoenix task force that is trying to find ways to curb reckless gunfire before the next popular holiday for gunfire, July Fourth:
--> Gain cooperation on shooting incidents from citizens, many of whom have been conditioned to ignore gunshots because they fear retaliation by the lawbreakers and rejection by the police.
--> Push police and prosecutors to more vigorously investigate and prosecute offenders, without hampering work on more serious crimes.
--> Deter shooters, who fret little about the dangers and even less about the potential of getting busted.
''We have to educate the whole city and to start doing it now, else it's going to spread like graffiti and get out of hand,'' said Connie Tyler, one of the members of the Task Force on Random Gunfire.
The message is simple: A bullet that's shot up will come down.
Eleven-year-old Richard Ulloa became empirical evidence of that logic. He stood in his family back yard on New Year's Eve 1995 and fell dead when a reveler's bullet rained down and pierced his skull.
A year later, similar circumstances led to the same result. A man rang in 1996 by inadvertently killing his girlfriend: He had sprayed bullets up into the sky in celebration and was bringing the gun down when a last round fired and went into her chest.
''We have guns . . . in the hands of people who don't know anything about how to use them,'' said Dave McArtor, whose 21-year-old daughter, Michelle, died in the New Year's Eve incident.
The task force, appointed by Mayor Skip Rimsza, is mulling everything from legalizing firecrackers to satiate those who crave celebrating holidays with a bang, to airing television and radio public-service announcements that preach dangers of gunfire.
But if public meetings held this past month are any indication, people want more, namely the prosecution and jailing of those who shoot their guns.
The angriest residents took out frustration on the police, grilling the department for not arresting or citing negligent gun owners, not even those who habitually use their neighborhoods as shooting galleries.
Others who know that prosecution requires nothing less than a police officer witnessing the shooting asked whether they could take a page from graffiti enforcement and build a case against their neighbors by catching the act on videotape.
Some wonder why officers do not test suspected lawbreakers for gunpowder residue on their hands, a test the force has at its disposal.
Random gunfire long has preyed on the minds of those in older, rundown neighborhoods, many of whom can count on hearing shots daily as surely as the night falls.
Still, the scope and depth of people's anger surprised the mayor-appointed task force. At a Feb. 26 meeting in the Maryvale area of west Phoenix, one citizen threw at the committee a tape he had recorded of scores of gunshots and complained that police do little to help.
At a subsequent meeting, another Maryvale resident brought in a military helmet to make his point.
''If you are going to send the cops in, they'll need one of these,'' he said. ''Otherwise, they're not going to be any help to us.''
One woman said she uses her kitchen as a haven and herds her children into that room whenever gunshots are heard.
''No solution is taboo at this point, as far as I'm concerned,'' said City Councilman John Nelson at the inaugural meeting of the task force last month.
And nothing has been. Some task-force members suggested a hotline for police tips and cash rewards.
There were also pitches for passing out free firecrackers on the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve.
The single major focus, however, has been public education.
One proposal calls for lobbying the state Legislature to require firearms safety classes in school.
''I was taught at a young age about guns and they scared the beejeebers out of me. It gave me a respect and fear of guns,'' said Richard Fox, one of the task-force members.
Another proposal calls for television and radio ads. Some ads also would air on Spanish stations and target Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals since the culture has a tradition of heralding special holidays with gunfire, task-force members said.
Penny Brophy, for one, would like to see one ''with kids laying in
pools of blood, something graphic that almost turns your stomach,'' that will shock people
back to reality. Chart IF YOU GO
Random Gunfire Task Force
When: 6 p.m. Monday.
Where: Los Olivos Community Forum, 2802 E. Devonshire Ave.
When: 6 p.m. March 18.
Where: South Mountain Community Forum, 212 E. Alta Vista St.
Information: 262-4409.