Gang Awareness Is Brought Home

Officials Teach Residents to Look for Signs of Factions in County

Factions of MS-13, the 18th Street Gang, the Bloods and the Crips are in Loudoun County, officials from the Sheriff's Office said at a community meeting in Sterling.

Sgt. David Zuleger of the sheriff's gang intelligence unit spoke to Loudoun residents at a gang awareness seminar at Seneca Ridge Middle School on Thursday night. The session was sponsored by the Sheriff's Office, Supervisor Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) and the Sugarland Run Homeowners Association.

Zuleger's presentation began with a slide show illustrating gang signs, graffiti, tattoos, hand signals and clothing.

"Graffiti is one of the first indicators," he said. "It glorifies the gangs and serves as a warning, challenge to other gangs."

Cases of "disrespecting" graffiti -- one gang's name spray-painted over another's -- can reveal which gangs are fighting, or "beefing," he said.

Gang tattoos can include the obvious, such as the gang's name printed on someone's arm or neck and small pitchforks or devil's horns printed on a hand, he said.

Zuleger said members of MS-13 gravitate toward blue clothing and the 18th Street Gang features red and black. Even small print such as a blue 13 on a hoodie can be an important sign, he said.

MS-13 and 18th Street are the largest gangs in the county, followed by the Bloods and Crips, Zuleger said. In Loudoun, MS-13 remains predominantly Hispanic, and 18th Street includes whites and blacks, he said.

Zuleger said the Sheriff's Office divides gang members into three categories: validated members, associates and suspected members. Loudoun law enforcement officials are tracking about 40 validated gang members, and the No. 1 crime committed by gangs in the county is graffiti, he said.

After the hour-long presentation, Zuleger and Ed Ryan, coordinator of the Loudoun Gang Response Intervention Team, which includes members of several county agencies, answered questions.

One woman asked whether she should notify her neighbors and the Sheriff's Office when she notices graffiti on property. Zuleger said that 90 percent of the time someone from the Sheriff's Office will speak to the property owners, and he encouraged the woman to speak to them, too.

A man asked about the relation between recent drive-by shootings in Sterling and gang activity. Two teenagers were wounded by gunshots Sept. 13, and a drive-by shooting Sept. 17 wounded three men.