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ST. GEORGE -- Illegal immigrant gang members have played a role in a recent crime spike in the St. George area.
To have two (gang-related shootings) happen in a couple-week span is extremely rare.
–Johnny Heppler
The uptick has been over the past eight months, and police are particularly concerned about two gang-related shootings in the past three weeks. The shootings injured two people. One shooting involved illegal immigrant gang members.
"It's something that's extremely rare in the St. George area - our gang shootings in and of themselves - but to have two happen in a couple-week span is extremely rare," St. George police officer Johnny Heppler tells KSL Newsradio.
Heppler, who has experience with the gang unit, says it is difficult to gauge the real impact of illegal immigrant gang members because all gang members are violent.
"Gang members are violent because that's their nature," Heppler says. "They are more prone to carry weapons, more prone to have drugs and be violent toward law enforcement or innocent bystanders."
While there has been more gang violence in recent months, Heppler says gang-related crime is actually down 42 percent from three years ago.
That coincides with a decline in the local economy and construction market. Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith told KSL Newsradio earlier in the week he had seen an outflow of illegal immigrants from the area in that time frame. Still, Smith said he didn't believe illegal immigrants contributed to the crime rate any more than the general population.
Heppler says there are 600 to 700 documented gang members in the St. George and Washington County area. Twenty to 30 percent are Hispanic, and fewer than that are believed to be illegal immigrants.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
