Westwood isn’t what it used to be (Photo: Saul Gonzalez)
On Jan. 30, Karen Toshima was one of thousands of people who went to Westwood Village to have an enjoyable evening. Instead, she found death from a bullet fired by a member of a street gang. In her death, she joined the 60% of victims of gang murders who, like her, were innocent bystanders. Every person who was in Westwood Village on Jan. 30 can truthfully say, “But for the grace of God, it could have been me,” because Karen was not killed by a personal enemy. She was killed by our common enemy, a wantonly violent member of a street gang, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Toshima, a 27-year-old graphic designer, was celebrating a recent promotion with a night out in Westwood, according to the Daily Bruin.
That is exactly what Kim Pham was doing when she was stomped to death in Downtown Santa Ana, by a pack of vicious women and a few men too. Pham was waiting to get into a hipster nightclub, The Crosby, which has since announced that they are closing their doors. Continue reading
