Street Fights Shawano

From Shawano Leader Onloine

"Street fight in Shawano linked to alleged gang members
By Tim Ryan, Leader Reporter

Several alleged gang members have been linked to a street fight in Shawano Tuesday that briefly caused a lockdown of three neighborhood schools.

Police have been dealing with a chronic vandalism problem in the city, much of it in the form of gang graffiti, but Tuesday’s incident was the first time police have tied alleged gang members to any violent activity.

Police responded about 2 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a fight on Andrews Street involving more than a dozen subjects armed with baseball bats. Three vehicles fled the scene when police arrived.

Duran Teller, 21, of Shawano, was arrested after the vehicle he was in stopped and three other subjects fled on foot.

Teller was charged in Shawano County Circuit Court Wednesday with felony bail jumping, two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon. An amended complaint was expected Thursday with an additional count of resisting an officer, according to the district attorney’s office.

According to the police report, several of the subjects involved in the fight were identified as Latin King gang members." Shawano Leader

Shawano Police Capt. Jeff Heffernon said police are counting on public support in combating what appears to be a growing problem of gang activity.

“We’d like to shine the light of day on this budding problem in Shawano,” Heffernon said.

“What we really appreciate are the people who call the police for these types of activities,” he said. “We need those eyes. We need the cooperation of the people of the city of Shawano to contact us when they see suspicious activities so we can come and take appropriate law enforcement action. Without that, we’re not going to be able to effectively meet this problem.”

Heffernon said measures taken by police and the city — including a recently adopted ordinance setting strict penalties for graffiti vandalism — shows the department is taking the issue seriously.

“Believe me, we want to meet it head on and not allow any gang affiliated people to be comfortable in the city of Shawano,” he said.

Previous suspected gang activity has been limited to vandalism — the worst of which was a vehicle set on fire. Tuesday’s fight was the first time police identified alleged gang members with an act of violence.

“I don’t want to say it’s an escalation but it’s certainly...you can draw that conclusion,” Heffernon said.

According to statements taken by police, a birthday party was going on in a home in the 200 block of South Andrews Street when two vehicles showed up outside.

About nine people got out of the vehicles carrying baseball bats and bricks, the police report said. Seven subjects from inside the house were outside when police arrived.

Two other people in a third vehicle that left the scene were also questioned by police and said the confrontation was already going on when they arrived.

Though bats were swung and a brick was apparently thrown during the melee, no one was apparently injured, according to police reports.

Heffernon said the incident was still being investigated Wednesday and it was still unclear what the fight was about. He said there had apparently been two attempts to “carry out this fight,” both in the same location within 14 hours of one another.

Some of the same individuals in Tuesday afternoon’s incident were believed to be involved in another police call in the same area early Tuesday morning, Heffernon said.

Police responded to a report of a fight in progress in the 200 block of South Andrews Street at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. Several subjects were at the scene when police arrived, but denied there was a fight.

Schools in the area were advised to lock down their facilities for about an hour Tuesday afternoon because of an initial report of a firearm in one of the vehicles. No firearm was located in the vehicle left behind at the scene.

Heffernon said the lockdown was just a precaution until the scene was secured.

“Preliminary information was that a firearm was involved,” Heffernon said. “We weren’t able to confirm that, but given the potential of violence the schools were notified.”