Los Angeles police play down crime fears after killing spree

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Police in Los Angeles played down fears of a crime wave on Monday after an an unusually violent weekend saw more than a dozen people killed across the city.

Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger described the spike in violent deaths that left 14 people dead as a "blip."

"The city in fact is not under siege," Paysinger told reporters at an afternoon news conference. "According to our records, there have been no connections or trends developing, nor can they be inferred as a result of the spike in the number of homicides."

Paysinger said several of the incidents had been confirmed as gang-related and "investigation of the others is ongoing (as) to whether they, too, may have gang ties."

Killings in Los Angeles...