Here’s what the decision to take away 27% of our neighborhood’s police force has left us with:
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| Vallejo. (Facebook) |
Despite being the 3rd anniversary of a Lake View gang murder and the first anniversary of a gang shooting at a memorial service in the same location, nearly half of the 19th district’s police beats did not have officers assigned to protect them overnight Sunday.
And guess what? Shots were fired and shell casings were recovered today after an early morning North Center incident that police believe is tied to the gang rivals.
Latin Eagle gang member Max Vallejo was shot as he sat in a tow truck at Addison and Ashland around 3:40AM on May 9, 2012. He died just after midnight on May 10.
Latin Eagles who gathered at Addison and Ashland one year ago to remember Vallejo came under fire from rival Latin King gang members. One of those shots ricocheted and struck an innocent bystander in the eye as he stood outside of a local bar.
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| Red areas went without police patrols overnight. Yellow areas were assigned to paddy wagons, which are actually tied up transporting arrestees and prisoners. |
Despite the rather obvious pattern, five of the 19th district police patrol areas did not have officers assigned to them overnight Sunday. Two other beats were technically assigned to the two “paddy wagons,” which have little time to actually patrol anything because they’re busy transporting arrestees and prisoners all night.
At 5 o’clock this morning, a man called 911 and screamed for police to come to the 3300 block of Claremont before his call got disconnected. Moments later, a resident on Claremont reported seeing 20 people fighting outside. Then, shots rang out and residents from around the area called for police.
The district managed to scrape together a dangerously lean response. Officers found two spent casings on the west side of Claremont and one spent casing and a live round on the east side of the street.
Two vehicles were seen fleeing the area which has seen a number of skirmishes between rival gangs, including Latin Kings, in recent weeks.
No one was found injured at the scene, but police were waiting to hear about “walk-ins” to area hospitals.
