No arrest yet in Carachure gang death

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Nearly a month after 16-year-old Lorenzo Valentin Carachure was stabbed to death on the 700 block of San Pascual St., Santa Barbara police have yet to make an arrest in the city’s second gang-related murder of the year.
Carachure’s murder came on the heels of the stabbing death of 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares, who sustained eight knife wounds during a March 14 gang brawl on State Street that erupted in broad daylight.

Though the two incidents are chock full of similarities and differences, the outcry from the community following Linares’ death included several large community forums, which were heavily attended by elected officials, while the public reaction after Carachure’s death was more subtle.
Whether the difference in attention had to do with the locations of the two murders -- Carachure was killed in a high density, lower west side neighborhood under the cover of darkness, while Linares was knifed on State Street in broad daylight -- is debatable, but, according to some, likely has some merit.
“The time of day and the location both have to do with why one got more attention than the other,” said Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum. “But I think we’re equally horrified by both of the homicides. At least I am.”
Blum said the lighter response to Carachure’s death could have been the result of the steps taken by the council and other groups after Linares’ death to improve the situation for local youth.
“I don’t think the community ignored the second stabbing,” Blum said. “It’s just that we’re already in motion and we’re already tuned into trying to help these kids become integrated into society.”
In the four-month lull between Linares’ and Carachure’s deaths, the Santa Barbara City Council approved its $203.9 million operating budget for fiscal year 2008.
The chunk of approved money included several increases in spending on programs for the city’s youth.
One of those increases was a $25,000 addition to the Parks and Recreation Department’s Youth Apprenticeship Program.
Ken Rivas, chair of the Franklin Center Advisory Committee, said the extra $25,000 will increase the number of local youths employed by the program to 80 and hopes it will have an impact on vulnerable local youths.
Rivas, who with the other community center advisory committee members relay messages from local residents to the city council, said he too saw a difference in the way Carachure’s murder was dealt with compared to that of Linares.
Rivas said he wasn’t aware of as many public forums and meetings in the aftermath of Carachure’s death, and like Blum said, the difference boils down to location.
“I hate to make this connection but the second stabbing occurred on the west side in the evening,” Rivas said. “You look at where it happened. It happened in a low income neighborhood versus downtown State Street.”
Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez doesn’t completely agree with the perception that less was done in the wake of Carachure’s death than was done after Linares was killed.
Sanchez said just as many public meetings were held in the aftermath of Carachure’s death, they were just lower profile. He noted that the appearance of more meetings after Linares’ murder could have been due to an influx of several meetings just before the incident, which included one that was held at the Franklin Community Center the night before Linares died.
“I think the community really cares about both,” Sanchez said. “In my opinion I think there was equal attention paid to it, just like the Linares case.”
Regardless of the attention paid to each of the incidents, the nagging issue of gang violence, and its tragic affect on young people, continues to linger over the city.
While the person or persons who stabbed Carachure are not yet behind bars, the preliminary hearing for 14-year-old Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez, who has been charged with Linares’ murder, began last Monday in Superior Court. Juarez pleaded innocent to the charge.
When asked about the current climate on the streets, Sanchez said he believes most parents still feel safe in their communities. He also said gang violence tends to calm down slightly during a high to medium profile court case such as the one involving Juarez.
“I think the climate is pretty consistent with what happens when a trial is going on,” Sanchez said.
After both of the incidents, Sanchez appeared before the city council to discuss the cases.
When asked by a Daily Sound reporter if the city needs more police officers, Blum said the ratio of police officers to people should be one officer to every 1,000 people. According to Blum, those numbers would indicate the city should have between 90 to 92 officers.
But she said the city has slightly more than 140 officers.
“I think we’re OK with that,” Blum said, adding that the city council and Sanchez communicate well with one another and if he needs more officers, he’ll ask for more.
Though the two stabbing deaths mark a spike in recent gang violence, Lt. Paul McCaffrey, a spokesman for the police department, has told the Daily Sound during past interviews that it doesn’t necessarily mean gang violence is on the rise.
He said there have always been gang stabbings, but people don’t always die.
In the Carachure case, two other people were stabbed during the same incident, but Carachure was the lone fatality.
At the time of Carachure’s death, McCaffrey said the group of three young men, which included Carachure, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old, were walking down San Pascual Street at 10:41 p.m. when they were jumped by a group of larger young men who had clubs and knives.
McCaffrey wouldn’t release any details about the case, but has said gang patrols have been increased as a result of the stabbing.
“In both cases the community is upset,” Sanchez said. “I am concerned with the violence. We’re doing our best to continue investigating the latest [murder].”
The day after Carachure was murdered, hundreds of family and friends gathered outside his parents’ home just blocks from where the stabbing occurred to show their support.
Some were raising money to send the boy’s body back to Mexico to be buried, while others were praying near a makeshift altar decorated with candles and pictures of Carachure.
On any other night, the gathering could have been mistaken as a west side block party, but on that night, a son, brother, grandson, student and friend was dead.
“Young people are killing young people,” Sanchez said. “At the end of the day it’s a child. There are no winners in any of this.”