The neighborhood pretty much knows what they are up to. So do the kids. The fact that the gunmen aren't turned in to the cops is taken as affirmation that what they're doing is accepted, protected or at least tolerated in the community. These kids don't have to be told that their world isn't safe. They know all too well that the bullets that took down their acquaintances could take them down too.
Fear keeps their lips closed.
That kind of fear enables the thugs to act without concern of ever getting caught, let alone convicted. And the huge number of unsolved slayings proves they are on to something. But imagine what the threat of death and dying can do to a child. Imagine how it must feel to have to sit in a classroom or share a playground or live down the street from someone regarded as mean enough to have put a bullet through someone else's head. Helplessness, frustration, fear, rage can't begin to explain what that youngster is feeling.