\n<\/p>\n
Federal and local enforcement launched an operation Wednesday targeting what authorities called an “open-air drug market” in MacArthur Park.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said it would announce the results of the operation at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.<\/p>\n
Dozens of armed federal agents and LAPD officers raided several storefronts along the Alvarado Corridor. As agents moved in and out of the location, LAPD officers cordoned off the northeast corner of the park with yellow crime scene tape.<\/p>\n
A voice came over the loudspeaker, “You are on the roof, go back to your residence.”<\/p>\n
Minutes before the raid, LAPD squads slowly circled the park. Then around 2:08 p.m., a caravan of additional police and federal vehicles arrived at 6th and Alvarado and several officers drove away.<\/p>\n
LAPD officers and DEA agents gathered to target an open drug market on Alvarado Avenue near MacArthur Park.<\/p>\n
(Gennaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
They were soon joined by a larger, command post-style vehicle, which was followed by several other armored tactical vehicles.<\/p>\n
The officers started fanning the park and started pushing back the people who came forward. <\/p>\n
The operation attracted the attention of several dozen spectators who lined up as part of a meal delivered by a local non-profit called the Dream Center Foundation.<\/p>\n
“You’re going to corral us all into one place where you want us,” said a man crossing the line.<\/p>\n
At one point, a black and white LAPD helicopter flew overhead. Officers made several announcements over the loudspeaker that this was a DEA operation.<\/p>\n
“We have a federal narcotics warrant in the area,” an announcement said, instructing people to obey law enforcement orders and walk down the street with their hands on their heads.<\/p>\n
This is the latest in a series of actions at MacArthur Park. In March, federal authorities arrested a dozen 18th Street Gang members and associates on charges of murder, extortion and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
Authorities at the time said the gang controlled the park “as an open-air drug market, mixing with the homeless population and using tents to avoid detection by law enforcement.”<\/p>\n
“Gang criminals and drug traffickers have been exploiting the MacArthur Park community for too long,” Anthony Chrysanthis, head of the DEA’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement at the time. \u201cWe want to give MacArthur Park back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal and local enforcement launched an operation Wednesday targeting what authorities called an “open-air drug market” in MacArthur Park. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said it would announce the results of the operation at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Dozens of armed federal agents and LAPD officers raided several storefronts along the Alvarado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2514,2878,3422,9085,24756,1357,28946,6900],"class_list":["post-123224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-verse","tag-aim","tag-drug","tag-enter","tag-feds","tag-macarthur","tag-market","tag-openair","tag-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123228,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123224\/revisions\/123228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}