El Mirage police: Recent gang arrests not part of trend

El Mirage Police Chief Michael Frazier is downplaying the recent arrest of two gang members, saying the community is not "overrun with gangs."

Last week, El Mirage police arrested two teenagers with gang affiliations in connection with the shooting of three people. Frazier said the arrests were a result of a collaboration between the department and a state gang task force. Two recent isolated incidents in El Mirage have involved gangs.

"I don't want anyone to think that we're overrun with gangs because we're not," the chief said. "It's just that a couple of things happened close together."

Frazier said there are about five active gangs in El Mirage, but most haven't committed violent crimes.

"There has been some verbal stuff, taunting and graffiti, but not any shooting until now because they're not generally involved in that stuff," he said.

Two teens were arrested in connection with a shooting at the corner of Thunderbird Road and Primrose Street. Each suspect, ages 15 and 16, was charged with six counts of aggravated assault, police said.

At about 6:55 p.m. Monday, there was a verbal exchange between the suspects, who were in a car, and six teenagers at the intersection, according to police. Shortly after the exchange, the suspects emerged from the car, firing several rounds at the victims and striking three of them, police said.

With the help of the Department of Public Safety Gang & Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission, officers located the teens within 48 hours.

"This issue is the first one we used with enforcement, and it was very successful for us," he said.

There haven't been many violent crimes involving gangs in El Mirage, Frazier said. The other recent gang-related incident involved graffiti.

"It's usually (gangs) tagging walls, fist fighting or chasing each other down, but no one has been injured until lately," said Det. Mike Borrello, El Mirage grafitti and gang officer.

As the summer approaches, Frazier said parents should be aware of their children's whereabouts.

"They should do what they can to keep them busy and engaged in positive activities," he said. "This is all about education and enforcement."