LA HABRA : Bullets Spray Home of Anti-Gang Activist

Dorothy Rush, a La Habra City Council candidate, thought drive-by shooters had stopped aiming at her Grace Avenue home.

But early Sunday morning, her house once again was sprayed with bullets, police said.

Rush, a 30-year resident and activist who has been prodding the city to enact strict anti-blight and anti-gang laws, said a window in which a campaign sign was displayed was shattered, and six bullets punctured the walls of her home when gunshots were fired about 6:10 a.m.

Police suspect gang members, but no one has been arrested, Lt. John Buchholz said.

Neighbors saw a male in the bed of a faded red pickup truck with a white camper shell shoot at Rush’s home, Buchholz said. The driver wasn’t seen.

Police found 9-millimeter slugs inside Rush’s home.

Rush, 60, said her home was last fired at in February. Those attackers also smashed a living room window and scribbled the name of a neighborhood gang on the front of her house.

In April, cinder blocks crashed through Rush’s bedroom and living room windows. One hit her on the back as she slept while another grazed her cat and another shattered her dresser mirror. Before that, graffiti appeared on Rush’s driveway on a monthly basis.

She founded the Grace/Pacific Community Assn. last year and the Neighborhood Watch two years ago in an effort to persuade police to step up patrols in her area and get landlords and tenants to maintain their properties.

For years, Rush has been accused by some neighbors of meddling, and gang members have blamed her for their evictions. They also have said she just wants gangs to move to another part of the city.

Rush said she just wants to “clean up” her neighborhood.