A Shooting on Elm Street

Los Angeles, 1988

Gang violence propelled murder rates off the charts as crack cocaine fueled turf wars and funded caches of military-style weaponry. Shootings were rampant. Law enforcement battled to contain the fires while rap music, pop culture, and movies like Colors further fanned them.

On a cool night in April, a gang cop came face to face with an Eastside Bishop Blood, the two of them leveling the business ends of their guns at one another. Gunfire erupted, and the two men went down in...