City leaders rally against violence
PENDING EXECUTION CAUSES CONCERN OVER REACTION
By Jeremiah Marquez
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Wary of public anger over Stanley Tookie Williams' pending execution, local leaders on Friday called for peace if the Crips gang co-founder is put to death next week for four shotgun murders in Los Angeles County.
Authorities have received reports of possible plans to commit violence if Williams is denied clemency, calling the threats a ``credible concern.''
``What we picked up is enough to make us believe that there will be an attempt in some isolated places for violence,'' Robin Toma, executive director of the county's Commission on Human Relations, said at a news conference at City Hall.
Toma declined to provide further details, but said schools and various county areas could be targeted.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to decide whether to grant Williams clemency in the 1979 murders. Williams, who is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison, would be the 12th inmate executed since California reinstated the death penalty in 1977.