Luis Rodriguez, author of “Always Running,” a memoir about his gang years, is against the gang injunction that covers roughly 10 square miles of Sylmar and San Fernando. “The way this thing is set up,” he said, “if the gang doesnt get you, the police will.” (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Graffiti is often a sign of gang activity, such as on Sayer Street in Sylmar. The gang San Fer has long defined the area’s cultural and social structure. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Children participate in an after-school program at Sylmar Park, which is described in documents as having been seized by San Fer. But some residents point to summer day camps and year-round activities at the park as proof that their community isn’t being terrorized. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Longtime Sylmar resident Jeanne Rowe, 82, is in favor of the gang injunction. “If this is going to help put more officers in the area, Im all for it,” she said. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
