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Medford police believe two recent crimes are gang-related By SARAH LEMON Medford police are targeting an apparent increase in local gang activity. Two separate crimes reported late Thursday and early Friday led police to believe members of a Hispanic gang and a white gang may be involved, said Medford police Lt. Mike Moran. The police department's gang and street drugs (GSD) unit - which has focused mostly on narcotics arrests in the past few years - will be working on the two cases, he said. "Recently, we've seen more and more (gang activity)," Moran said. "It's coming back." Witnesses to a fight at the corner of Dakota Avenue and Hamilton Street around 8:20 p.m. told police that members of a Hispanic gang called "Brown Nation" were involved. When police responded to the fight, one man yelled obscenities at an officer, Moran said. He reportedly raised his white tank top and displayed a handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants and ran off. Police are looking for the man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs about 160 pounds and had a shaved head, Moran said. About 20 minutes later, police responded to a reported stabbing at Eighth and Ivy streets. Marvin Parker, 41, of the 1200 block of Main Street, was treated at Providence Medford Medical Center for two stab wounds. He was released from the hospital Friday. Parker told investigators that he was walking through Alba Park to the post office to mail a letter when two Hispanic men approached him and made insulting comments. He argued with them and was stabbed with a steak knife above the belt line on the left side of his stomach. Parker told a detective that both men were armed, but police are not sure if both attacked Parker. The three men reportedly were last seen running through the park toward the library. Witnesses saw Parker collapse on the sidewalk in front of the Federal Building on Eighth Street, and they called police. While police have no information that the stabbing is gang-related, officers are looking for two Hispanic men in their late teens. One had short black hair and was wearing a white T-shirt and baggy blue pants. The other sported slicked-back black hair, a long-sleeved blue flannel shirt, baggy blue pants and boots. Another suspect who reportedly fired a gun at a west Medford house early Friday is being sought. Residents in the 400 block of Benson Street told police that someone in the passenger seat of a white Buick or Oldsmobile fired three or four shots from a semi-automatic pistol at their home around 3:40 a.m. Friday. Police found a shell casing for a 9 mm handgun in the street outside. No one was injured. A 19-year-old white man living in the residence told police that while walking home around 3 a.m. he first encountered the gunman and the vehicle's driver at the corner of Prune and Benson streets. They yelled obscenities at him and then got into the white vehicle with silver spoked hub caps. The passenger allegedly pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the 19-year-old and drove off. Moran said investigators believe the crime is gang-related. They are looking for a 5-foot-11-inch, 240-pound Hispanic man in his early 20s with short hair. He reportedly was wearing a white tank top and baggy jeans. The recent gang-related crime reports gives the GSD unit reason to refocus investigations toward gang activity, which has been low in the past couple years, Moran said. The police department's GSD unit was formed in the late 1990s to suppress gang activity, curb street-level drug traffic and emphasize school safety. Made up of officers who concentrate full-time on those areas, GSD replaced the police department's old Gang Enforcement Team, whose officers worked on gang problems when they had time away from other calls. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.