2 injured in gang clash

A 15-year-old girl, reportedly a member of the Bloods gang, and her friend sustained wounds during an attack by suspected members of the rival Crips gang along Natalio Bacalso Avenue yesterday morning.

Police homicide investigator Alex Dacua said the victims and some members of Bloods were at a gasoline station planning whether to attend a disco along Urgello Street or to proceed to Sanciangko Street where there was another benefit dance.

But moments later, Dacua said four suspected Crips members who were armed with handguns arrived and fired at the group.

The members of Bloods scampered away but the victims sustained graze wounds in the lower armpit and the back. They were brought to the Cebu City Medical Center and were released after being treated.

Dacua said the victims identified their assailants as a certain Aldos, a certain Giongco and twin brothers Anthony and Anthon Fernandez.

Recently, while efforts are made to end the animosity between Alpha Kappa Rho and Tau Gamma Phi fraternities, the two gangs are beginning to gain public attention due to their recent skirmishes.

While police have yet to confirm rumors that these gangs are actually extended groups of the warring fraternities, reports revealed that Bloods and Crips originated in Los Angeles, California sometime in 1971.

Americans Stanley Tookie Williams and Raymond Washington founded Crips after they were both fed up with the violence in their neighborhood. The group became popular in southern Los Angeles.

The Bloods, on the other hand, was formed out of smaller gangs that were known enemies of Crips.

These two groups expanded their membership internationally and their arrival in the Philippines was reportedly through their Filipino-American members who visited the country years ago.

Using the color blue as its trademark, there is no exact explanation as to how Crips got its name, although some believed that it stemmed from an attack against an Asian woman.

One of the attackers had a physical disability and instead of saying the word "crippled" to identify one of the perpetrators, the Asian woman only managed to utter "a crip."

Meanwhile, Bloods members use red bandanas to identify themselves.