I posted, some time ago, a mention of a story my then 12-year old son related to me. He had heard in school that a deaf woman was shot by a gangster who thought that her sign language was gang signals.

I commented that it sounded to me like a modification of our old favorite, the Lights Out! urban legend. I mentioned that there had been a case of random shooting involving a deaf couple, but that the conclusion that the assailants mistook sign language for gang signals was speculation on the part of an officer, reported as fact by the media.

So my research department, despite the fact that all her paychecks over the past twelve months bounced higher than the USAn national debt under a Republican administration, set to work and retrieved a number of news items:

There were 4 articles found in this particular search, three regarding one incident, and another regarding a second incident. None of the articles provide specific proof that sign language was in fact mistaken for gang signals. None of the perpetrators were interviewed, no motive was established, and no specific persons were cited to support the allegation.

The first incident, in Pico Rivera, on February 4, occured when a pickup truck with seven "youths" followed a deaf couple into a parking lot. One of the assailants jumped from the truck with a rifle and fired "several rounds" at the victims through their car's windshield. A 22 year old woman was injured. (This incident wasn't reported for over a week. Why? Does California have a policy regarding the reporting of gang activities, to lessen their "publicity value?")

The second incident happened almost three years earlier, when a 19 year old deaf woman was murdered, and her deaf boyfriend "seriously injured" on July 2, 91. In this case the assailant fired in true blue Lights Out fashion from a white Jeep Cherokee, driving by at night with its lights off. (One wonders if the original Lights Out! urban legend started here.)

All of the articles contain statements like, "While a motive for the shooting has not been determined, the gunman may have mistaken the couple's use of sign language as the flashing of gang symbols -- a common challenge among street gangs, authorities said." (LA Times, 1991)

"A woman communicating in sign language with her fiance as they drove to dinner was shot in the face by gang members who apparently thought she was flashing gang signs." (Washington Post, Washington Times, 94)

"Neither the woman nor her boyfriend, both of whom are deaf, is a gang member, and a motive for the shooting has not been determined, Sheriff's Sgt. Pat Fallis said. But American Sign Language hand gestures have occasionally been misconstrued as gang signs." (LA Times, 94)

Sadly, the 91 LA Times item makes no identification of the "authorities" they are referring to. There is, in my opinion, good reason to identify Sgt. Fallis as the source of the facts for the more recent claims. Although the good sergeant may be referring to what he knew from three years before.

What I think is remarkable in all of these items is the notion that sign language can in any fashion be confused with gang signs. I have seen people communicate in ASL and SEE, and I have had gang signs flashed at me. In no way do I see a similarity between ASL and the flashing of gang signs. (Although I don't know if there are gang signs that happen to correspond to isolated hand shapes in sign languages...)

Compare these stories to ones where gang signs were a clear motivation to the shootings. Here is a representative example from a 1998 article in the Bakersfield Californian:

Flashing gang signs was enough to land a Wasco man in the hospital with shotgun wounds to his upper chest and to put seven suspects in custody, sheriff's deputies said Tuesday.

Juan Alvarez, 20, remained in critical condition Tuesday evening in the intensive care unit at Kern Medical Center after the shooting at 7:40 p.m. Monday in the 1800 block of D Street in Wasco.

Alvarez and an unnamed companion happened to be in the path of a truckload of reputed McFarland gang members who were looking for a Wasco gang member that one of the McFarland group members thought didn't show him proper respect, Wasco substation Sgt. Marty Williamson said.

Alvarez and his companion got out of a vehicle to go into a residence when the McFarland group drove by. Words and gang signs were exchanged between the two sides and a juvenile in the McFarland vehicle stood up and fired three blasts from a sawed-off shotgun, Williamson said.

The companion was unharmed. Deputies located the suspect vehicle on Highway 43, just north of Shafter. All seven occupants were arrested on attempted murder charges.

They include Albert Lorenzo, 22, Carlos Sanchez, 21, Jose Navarez, 17, Jorge Garcia, 18, Johnny Martinez, 18, and two juveniles whose names and ages were not disclosed, deputies reported.

That's not to say that it is entirely impossible that a gang shooting could be the result of someone mistaking sign language for gang signs, but so far my skepticism has been justified. In 2002 someone brought to my attention an incident where two boys, cousins, one of whom was deaf, were shot at. The boys said that their attackers yelled at them before shooting because of the sign language they had been using.

An investigating officer was quoted saying that he'd never heard of the story that sign language might get you shot.

Well, it wasn't impossible, but in the end it turned out like this:

June 17, 2000; 5:37 p.m. EDT, the Associated Press, Forth Worth, TX

A teen-ager who claimed he was shot by gang members who mistook a sign language exchange with his hearing-impaired cousin for provocative gang signals now says his cousin accidentally shot him.

"They fabricated the whole story," Lt. David Burgess said of the June 10 incident in which Henry Lee Handy III was shot in the chest.

I think that the attitudes of the participants in sign language are so different from "flashing gang signals," and the evidence is far too sketchy. I'd say that so far we have

F. Sign language can be confused with gang signs, and may get you killed.