HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Members of several police agencies raided the Haverstock Hill apartments off Aldine Bender Road west of U.S. 59 Thursday evening.
A Harris County Sheriff's spokesman said law enforcement was there to make sure gang members banned from the area had not re-entered the area.
Forty-seven members of two notorious gangs were banned last summer from entering the north Harris County community.
County Attorney Vince Ryan petitioned for a permanent injunction in 2014 to keep members of the Crips and Bloods gangs out of the East Aldine Safety Zone. The safety zone, located east of Highway 59 and south of Bush Intercontinental Airport, is home to Francis Elementary and A&W Academic Academy, along with homes, restaurants and other businesses.
The area is notorious for crime.
"Crime happens so frequently that I got used to it," Carolyn Dalcour, a resident at the apartment complex, said. "There have been killings, stabbings, shootings, break-ins."
Bonisacio Juarez, also a resident, said when the sun goes down the area becomes very unsafe.
"No good," he said.
Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Thomas Gilliland said when deputies or police officers found gang members who had been banned from the area or people with outstanding warrants, they were arrested.
Gilliland did not know how many people had been arrested.
Residents said they were happy to see law enforcement in the area but worried that crime will return when police leave.
Houston Police Department's gang unit and members of the Harris County Constable Precinct 4 participated in Thursday's raid.