After an eventful few weeks that saw multiple serious incidents occur in Long Beach, local residents are speaking out about public safety.
Over the weekend, a meet-up amongst mostly juveniles turned violent, when two females got into a fistfight and were arrested. The owners of The Pike Outlets elected to close early due to the chaotic event.
A short time later, a 16-year-old boy was found with a gunshot wound to his leg near The Pike. Police have released no details about a possible suspect in the shooting.
Long Beach Police knew about the large meet-up ahead of time through a viral social media post and had extra officers on standby in the area. Chief Wally Hebeish released a statement Sunday saying he was “proud” of how authorities handled the situation.
These two events are the latest in what has been an eventful few weeks in Long Beach. Longtime resident Don Rock lives in the area and is fed up with the criminal activity.
“It’s making Long Beach look bad,” Rock said to KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw. “I come down here every day. I live within walking distance and it’s not as safe as it was when I was a kid.”
Rock wants to see more being done to deter offenders from committing crimes. He says lax criminal laws are contributing to the recent wave of crime.
“Some of these laws have changed for LA and it affects us,” Rock said. “Now, if somebody commits a crime, they just get a ticket. And they’re out and they do that crime the next day.”
There has been an elevated concern about how many young people have been caught up in the recent wave of crime in recent weeks.
One local says the issue goes deeper than policing and would like to see the community step up to give youth more options on where to spend their free time positively.
“My observance is what’s causing them to act out the way they’re acting?” asked Long Beach resident Jhamal McCloud. “Why don’t they have an outlet for them to be able to positively express themselves?
Other residents of Long Beach have also questioned the safety of the city after the recent crime wave. A shooting took place in a crowded area last Saturday, but no one was injured.
The no-hit shooting occurred just blocks away from where a food truck vendor was almost stabbed to death while defending an elderly woman being robbed on March 11.
Just eight days before the stabbing, another man – who was said to have gotten into an argument while defending a group of people – was fatally stabbed at a Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant in the Long Beach neighborhood of Belmont Shore.
The suspect in that stabbing was arrested a day later at LAX, police confirmed; the restaurant has since started closing earlier every night.