Antioch mayor promises to spend $100,000 on outside police assistance

ANTIOCH – Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe and police took steps Wednesday to reassure the public that the city is doing everything in its power to stop a sudden rise in gun violence and announced plans to apply for $100,000 in grant money to pay for help from outside law enforcement agencies.

The statements followed a well-attended city council meeting Tuesday night, where dozens of residents urged city officials to put an end to a series of shootings that have “wreaked havoc” in Antioch this month.

The shootings – more than a dozen in total – were concentrated within a three-block radius near the Sycamore Drive corridor and along Cavallo Road.

“I have specifically requested assistance from our regional partner agencies so that we can deploy additional patrols in the Sycamore Corridor,” Hernandez-Thorpe said at a press conference on Wednesday. “One agency has accepted that offer,” Hernandez-Thorpe said at a press conference on Wednesday morning alongside Police Capt. Joe Vigil.

The mayor, however, did not comment specifically on the proposal, adding that he is still working out the details before presenting it at a city council meeting next month.

Hernandez-Thorpe also said the city will move forward with a parking permit program for the Sycamore area, particularly Peppertree Way and Lemontree Way, to restrict access to those areas, adding that outsiders have “taken over” some of those streets for drug-related activities.

The mayor said he sent a letter to the Contra Costa County Attorney’s Office on Monday asking for support from Antioch police by deploying their Safe Streets Task Force to combat street gangs and violent crime.

Hernandez-Thorpe added that Antioch’s interim police chief Brian Addington is also working with the district attorney’s office to request assistance in investigating the series of shootings that began with the Sept. 2 killing of 21-year-old Elijah Scales near Peppertree Way. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said that “communication between the district attorney’s office and APD has occurred and continues.”

“Let me be very clear to the people who have wreaked havoc in our community. We will find you,” the mayor said, promising to post daily updates on the situation on his social media pages. “We will hold you accountable, and you will pay the price for what you have done.”

Police said there have been 15 shootings since Sept. 2, some of which are related and appear to be retaliatory. However, others, such as a Sept. 16 shooting at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, are not related to the series of shootings.

Captain Vigil said police “suspect there are gang war undertones at play here.”

“Our investigators are still trying to figure this out to see how much of this is true before we say it’s a gang problem,” Vigil said.

The police department announced last week that it had restructured its staffing structure and assigned two additional officers to patrol the Sycamore Corridor for at least a week. The city has not seen a shooting since Sept. 21 four days ago, officials said Wednesday.

Asked about his earlier call for tougher measures, including imposing a curfew and requesting National Guard assistance, Hernandez-Thorpe said the city would do whatever it took to protect people’s lives.

“All options should be on the table. Nothing should be ruled out,” he said.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, dozens of residents and members of religious organizations expressed their frustration and offered their help to end gun violence. Some residents proposed solutions to identify the root cause of the problem, with many emphasizing a collective action approach.

Pastor Dakia Brinkley said the violence was not limited to the Sycamore Corridor but had spread throughout the city, and called for increased police presence and accountability from the city.

“The police are responsible for our safety. The mayor and city council are responsible and accountable for our safety,” she said.

Catherine Watts said there needs to be more programs for youth and children to fill their time after school and urged the city to reconsider the idea of ​​creating a recreation center for youth activities.

Another resident, Odessa La Francois, called for the establishment of a police station at the Sycamore Square shopping center and urged the city to partner with the Antioch Unified School District to provide free transportation to area students so they don’t have to “walk through all the chaos” every day.

Dora, a business owner at Sycamore Plaza, said he has grown up in the family business for the past 30 years but has never seen anything “this bad.”

“My employees’ car windows have been shot out; our windows and buildings have been riddled with bullets. We are all bearing the cost of this ourselves. Customers are saying they don’t feel safe coming in. Something has to be done, this is just ridiculous,” he said.

Council member Tamisha Torres-Walker, who represents Sycamore County, said gun violence has always been a public health issue. In 2024, the county health department received funding and began holding community meetings in Antioch, inviting residents to engage with them on how they could bring resources to the city, she said.

“The Safe Streets Task Force, which the 2023 District Attorney led, said they were willing to help Antioch, but the city would have to put an official on that task force. We never required an official to provide those resources,” she said.

Council member Mike Barbanica said landlords must be held accountable, claiming there was an increase in violence at the corner of Peppertree Way and Sycamore Drive after a homeowners association moved out.

“I believe we need to apply legal pressure to get the HOA to reinstate security guards in the area and hold landlords accountable,” Barbanica said.

Originally published: September 25, 2024 at 5:37 pm