Things have mellowed in the storied old neighborhood by Downtown El Paso since the start of the summer, when a young man was killed and a 13-year-old boy was stabbed in the neck during a spike in gang violence.

People were scared. Driving around, we would go talk to people and they would tell us they were afraid to go out at night, said Officer Robert Witterstauter, a senior member of the police Central Tactical Gang and Special Operations Unit.

The unit known as Central Tac is assigned to deal with the members of what gang officers estimate are about 15 gangs and tagging crews within the Segundo Barrio. The groups vary from newly formed teen cliques to street gangs dating back decades.

“They (gangs) leave for a period and come back,” said 73-year-old Raul Corral, a 30-year resident and vice president of the Eagle Neighborhood Association in the barrio.

The neighborhood is still much safer than in decades past, Corral said. “Antes estaba muy pesado, he said, meaning it was a tough place.

Corral and other residents are concerned that gang and drug activity may return to the densely populated barrio, which has historically been one of the first homes of Mexican immigrants.

May 7, 17-year-old Javier Chato Lozoya was fatally stabbed during a gang brawl in the 1000 block of Eighth Street. Lozoya, who was not from the area, was with a gang that went into the Segundo Barrio to avenge a previous fight. A 16-year-old boy was charged in the slaying. A month later, a 13-year-old neighborhood boy was stabbed in the neck.

The violence spurred El Paso police to put an added focus on the neighborhood, helping squelch further problems.

“They were keeping us busy for a while. Luckily, it has slowed down. Knock on wood, said Sgt. Mary Lou Carrillo, head of the Central Tac Unit.

Sandy Rodriguez said the gang situation in the barrio has improved greatly since the 1970s, when she began working at the Armijo Recreation Center.

“The gangs are not as bad as it used to be,” said Rodriguez, the center's recreation service coordinator. “The T-birds used to be right outside.

Back in the 1970s, the Thunderbirds were the best-known gang (or social club) in the neighborhood, newspaper archives stated. The few T-birds left are now low-profile veteranos, gang officers said.

When I started, there used to be a lot of gang activity, a lot of marked territory, Rodriguez said. You don't see that anymore. Sometimes people make more of it than it is. It's a very safe neighborhood.

The main reason for the recent surge in gang activity citywide, both police and Segundo Barrio residents agree, is a new generation of teen gangsters trying to make their mark.

Even the older Aztecas, they will say the same thing, We can't control them either,'  said Carrillo referring to members of the Barrio Azteca gang.

Carrillo said some of the new activity may be spurred in part by the ending of a 2003 civil court injunction targeting 34 members of Barrio Azteca in a Safe Community Zone covering the Segundo Barrio.

The prison-spawned gang, known for heroin dealing, has an estimated 1,000 members in El Paso County, law enforcement officials said. The injunction made it illegal for gangsters in the lawsuit to associate with each other, set a 10 p.m. curfew and outlawed a host of other normally legal activities.

A second civil court gang injunction is in the works, said Elhiu Dominguez, spokesman for the El Paso County Attorney's Office.

We are reviewing each of the candidates along with El Paso PD. It's a long process, Dominguez said. Hopefully, we will have something by the end of the year or early next year.