Victims Slashed In Gang Initiations

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4009

Men dressed in black with covered faces are hunting and then slashing random strangers with razor blades as part of a gang initiation, police warned residents.

Investigators said a gang in Flagler County is sending its future members to Daytona Beach to seek out victims to cut. Once a gang recruit slashes a stranger, he gains the respect of his peers and is inducted into their underground society, police told Local 6’s Tarik Minor.

The latest victims have prompted a warning to the community from police.

“It could be anybody they see,” Daytona Beach police Sgt. Bill Walden said. “In both incidents, it was just someone walking down the road, taken by surprise.”

Joshua Burgundy, one of the victims, required 22 staples after suffering slash wounds on his abdomen and back. “That’s close to my heart, you know. Just a little bit up would’ve been my heart,” Burgundy said, showing his scars.

http://www.local6.com/news/15982985/detail.html

2008-04-27