http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/newsatlanta/gang1103.html
By Beth Warren and Joshua B. Good
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers
Mechelle Marie Torres
Last month, Mechelle Marie Torres, 18, fearfully told Atlanta police she had been raped by a fellow gang member.
On Monday, she ended up dead.
The man she had pointed to as the rapist, Raul Garcia-Bonilla, 19, is now one of five suspects charged in her shooting death at a Norcross soccer park, police said. All five are part of the violent crime gang "Vatos Locos," Spanish for "crazy homeboys," investigators said.
The gang, with members in Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, was barely on the radar screen of metro Atlanta police. After the shootings, investigators said they have connected the gang to shootings, drugs, car thefts and burglaries.
During recent weeks, the gang had moved its headquarters to Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County police Detective Larry Bright said.
Torres and Robin Rainey, 17, tight friends, were warned by police about running with violent gang members, police said.
Roswell police Detective Ken Kraus said he has tried to talk with Rainey, recalling a time he bought her doughnuts and another time he broke up a fistfight she started with her mother.
But Rainey seemed determined to skip school, leave home and live "that fast-lane lifestyle," he said.
"Nobody would have taken a bet she would have lived to be 21," he said.
Rainey sought acceptance back into the gang even after she told police that in June Garcia kicked and beat her for six hours in a jealous rage, police said.
Torres also returned to the gang, even after she reported being held down and raped by Garcia at an Atlanta apartment on Oct. 12, police said.
Both also had hung out with rival gang members, Gwinnett prosecutor Danny Porter said.
So when the Fulton County teens tried to reunite with Vatos Locos, Garcia, Jorge Luis Nolasco, 22, and Celerino Palma, 21, plotted to kill them for acts of disloyalty, he said.
The victims had willingly gone to the park to take a beating as punishment.
Instead, Janeth Christina Olarte, of Gainesville and Hasia Sauceda of Duluth, both 16, shot them, Porter said.
One of the girls also stabbed Torres in the abdomen, he said.
Rainey, shot once in the throat, was released Thursday from Gwinnett Medical Center, where she had been guarded.
Authorities aren't discussing security measures for Rainey, the case's key witness.
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[This message has been edited by KaMaKaZe (edited November 03, 2000).]
By Beth Warren and Joshua B. Good
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers
Last month, Mechelle Marie Torres, 18, fearfully told Atlanta police she had been raped by a fellow gang member.
On Monday, she ended up dead.
The man she had pointed to as the rapist, Raul Garcia-Bonilla, 19, is now one of five suspects charged in her shooting death at a Norcross soccer park, police said. All five are part of the violent crime gang "Vatos Locos," Spanish for "crazy homeboys," investigators said.
The gang, with members in Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, was barely on the radar screen of metro Atlanta police. After the shootings, investigators said they have connected the gang to shootings, drugs, car thefts and burglaries.
During recent weeks, the gang had moved its headquarters to Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County police Detective Larry Bright said.
Torres and Robin Rainey, 17, tight friends, were warned by police about running with violent gang members, police said.
Roswell police Detective Ken Kraus said he has tried to talk with Rainey, recalling a time he bought her doughnuts and another time he broke up a fistfight she started with her mother.
But Rainey seemed determined to skip school, leave home and live "that fast-lane lifestyle," he said.
"Nobody would have taken a bet she would have lived to be 21," he said.
Rainey sought acceptance back into the gang even after she told police that in June Garcia kicked and beat her for six hours in a jealous rage, police said.
Torres also returned to the gang, even after she reported being held down and raped by Garcia at an Atlanta apartment on Oct. 12, police said.
Both also had hung out with rival gang members, Gwinnett prosecutor Danny Porter said.
So when the Fulton County teens tried to reunite with Vatos Locos, Garcia, Jorge Luis Nolasco, 22, and Celerino Palma, 21, plotted to kill them for acts of disloyalty, he said.
The victims had willingly gone to the park to take a beating as punishment.
Instead, Janeth Christina Olarte, of Gainesville and Hasia Sauceda of Duluth, both 16, shot them, Porter said.
One of the girls also stabbed Torres in the abdomen, he said.
Rainey, shot once in the throat, was released Thursday from Gwinnett Medical Center, where she had been guarded.
Authorities aren't discussing security measures for Rainey, the case's key witness.
------------------
WARNING: This post may be another "self-aggrandizing attempt to cause needless controversy, argument, distraction"
-*-
Keepin' the FUD Legacy Alive! Check us out @ FUD's Fan Club!
[This message has been edited by KaMaKaZe (edited November 03, 2000).]
Y'know, to here the MMM tell it, you'd think all these children who die are infants, sleeping in their cribs when the gun wielding NRA members, sneak in and Blast them!!! 