{"id":202550,"date":"2025-09-05T14:42:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202550\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:42:20","slug":"immigrants-caught-one-of-l-a-s-most-notorious-serial-killers-lessons-from-the-barrio-40-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202550\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrants caught one of L.A.’s most notorious serial killers. Lessons from the barrio 40 years later."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a toasty summer Sunday 40 years ago, Richard Ramirez was the nation\u2019s most wanted man. <\/p>\n

The Nightstalker serial killer <\/a>had spent months on a reign of terror, casually slipping into homes across Southern California and killing a total of 15 people.<\/p>\n

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He had eluded the police all summer, but they finally identified him and released his photo to the public. He emerged that Sunday morning on a bus at the edge of downtown and moved east into Boyle Heights, the heart of Latino L.A. and the entry point for countless undocumented immigrants coming from Latin America in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

What happened next has become Los Angeles legend and is perhaps best described by one Boyle Heights denizen: \u201cHe picked the wrong neighborhood!\u201d<\/p>\n

Block after block, residents recognized the long-haired loner from <\/a>newspaper photos and gave chase. Ramirez ran for two miles before emerging on Hubbard Street in East L.A..<\/a> \u201cEl maton! El maton!\u201d one woman screamed. <\/p>\n

He tried stealing several cars and hit a woman, but neighbors fought back. One man beat Ramirez on the head with a steel pipe, and with the help of neighbors, subdued him until police arrived. Anyone living in L.A. at the time remembers the TV images: Ramirez, his head bandaged, in the back of a sheriff\u2019s cruiser, the \u201cheroes\u201d telling their stories in Spanish, with neighbors translating. <\/p>\n

\"Richard <\/p>\n

Richard Ramirez in \u201cNight Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer\u201d on Netflix.<\/p>\n

(Netflix)<\/p>\n

The Nightstalker and today\u2019s immigration raids<\/p>\n

It is hard not to mark the anniversary of the Ramirez capture<\/a> in this summer of ICE without looking at it at least in part through the prism of immigration.<\/p>\n

Like now, the mid-1980s were marked by crackdowns on illegal immigration<\/a> and rhetoric about America being \u201coverrun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The summer of 1985 saw a series of high-profile federal immigration raids, including one that temporarily shuttered the Santa Anita racetrack. But such events lived in the shadow of the Nightstalker. He targeted affluent, white suburbs, and the seeming randomness of the crimes left the region terrified.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, there was undeniable symbolism when the barrio brought the killer of suburbanites to justice. The Hubbard Street heroes were honored for stopping a serial killer, and the whole situation brought pride to Boyle Heights that still lingers today.<\/p>\n

A community that banded together<\/p>\n

But there was something off about celebrating the immigrants who captured Ramirez during a moment of such hostility toward immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is as if the rest of the city is surprised that Latinos are capable of being good citizens,\u201d Times columnist Frank Del Olmo wrote at the time. <\/a>\u201cSomehow I thought that all the war heroes and just plain hard-working folks who have come out of barrios like East L.A. had dispelled those doubts a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Olmo hoped the Boyle Heights capture would lead to a less demonizing view of Latinos. There is little evidence that happened.<\/p>\n

\"Residents <\/p>\n

Residents of the Eastside honored for capturing the Nightstalker.<\/p>\n

(Mike Sergieff \/ Herald Examiner Collection \/ Los Angeles Public Library)<\/p>\n

To him, what happened that Sunday morning was less about the Nightstalker himself than the culture of the barrio. Ramirez was a stranger in the neighborhood and up to no good, and the community banded together to protect itself. Del Olmo noted that many of those on Hubbard Street pushed back when reporters described them as heroes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt that the politicians falling all over themselves to laud the residents of Hubbard Street\u201d appreciated this nuance, Del Olmo wrote.<\/p>\n

Lessons from the \u2018barrio\u2019<\/p>\n

These very same streets have been roiled by a different kind of fear the last three months. Immigration raids have led to numerous arrests, led some residents and vendors to go underground and emptied some shopping districts.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also clear the neighborhood culture Del Olmo admired in 1985 is still going strong. There have been efforts to deliver supplies, help flagging restaurants and eateries survive, get health services to those in need and much more. Seeing that local grocery stores were emptying, a group of students and others collected food and distributed it to people too afraid to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all hands on,\u201d Miguel Montes, an Eastside native and Cal State L.A. student, told Boyle Heights Beat<\/a>. \u201cWe need to help those that cannot come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s top stories \"California <\/a> <\/p>\n

California National Guard members protect the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles as maintenance workers clean graffiti off the windows on June 11.<\/p>\n

(Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s military deployment in Los Angeles cost $120 million, Newsom says<\/p>\n