At a press conference following the mass shooting that killed four and wounded six others in Southeast Fresno, Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall announced he had created an Asian gang task force, despite no definitive evidence the shooting was gang-related. Many members of Southeast Asian communities have since questioned why the police made the implicit association without definitive proof, and some worry it perpetuates stereotypes from which they’ve long sought to distance themselves.
To better understand the task force and why the police determined Asian gangs needed investigating, we sat down with three Fresno police officers: Lieutenant Steve Card of the gang-fighting MAGEC team, and Lieutenant Stephen Viveros and Corporal Ying Vang of the Southeast Policing District.