Antioch Mayor Thorpe shows up at scene of Wednesday night homicide, calls special meeting on anti-violence proposals

Both he and Councilwoman Torres-Walker posted about it on social media hours before APD press release issued; promote their previously announced proposals

By Allen Payton

Mayor Thorpe’s post on his Facebook page Wednesday night, May 12, 2021.

In a post on his mayor’s Facebook page late Wednesday night, hours before the Antioch Police Department issued a press release about the incident, announced that the chief of police had informed him and Thorpe then went to the scene of the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old girl and spoke with neighbors. In addition, the mayor announced a special council meeting for next Tuesday to discuss gun violence in the city, instead of waiting for their regular meeting on May 28, as he had previously announced. (See related articles here and here)

In addition, District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker announced on her council Facebook page that she too had been informed of the homicide. Both the mayor and councilwoman used the opportunity to promote their anti-violence proposals. The other three council members did not post anything about the incident on their council Facebook pages.

Chief T Brooks informed the council members about the homicide in compliance with the new required protocol for the council members to be informed of critical incidents that occur in the city. However, no requirement for informing the public was including in the council’s vote. (See related articles here and here)

Following is the post by Thorpe last night:

“This evening the Chief of Police informed me about a homicide involving a 12 year old girl. This is an unfortunate situation as these events impact all of us.

I went to the neighborhood where this happened and spoke to a few neighbors. As a parent of an 11 year old, it’s emotionally difficult to learn about these kinds of incidents. You literally can’t stop thinking about your own child. As I was out there, I also saw the 12 year old’s mom searching and demanding answers. This is still an active investigation so that’s all I can say for now.

I want to personally thank our men and women in law enforcement for their work on this matter. While I was there a small but emotionally charged crowd gathered. Understandable, given the circumstances. Our officers worked to keep things peaceful and displayed incredible restraint under very difficult circumstances.

I had originally planned to bring additional youth programming measures to the May 25th Council meeting. Instead, I’ll be bringing those measures to a special meeting next Tuesday, May 18th including the creation of a Community Led Violence Prevention Task Force in partnership with Moms Demand Action – CA.

I’ll reiterate my message to young people, guns are not the answer to solving problems! Cease fire!”

Councilwoman Torres-Walker’s post on her council Facebook page last night, May 12, 2021.

In addition, District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker posted about the incident on her council Facebook page late Wednesday night prior to the APD issuing their press release. She wrote:

“Earlier this evening I found out about a homicide involving a 13-year-old girl. This makes me so angry because for the past 6 years I have been warning people that if we didn’t do something this particular kind of violence would escalate.

I can’t stop thinking about the loss of my baby brother to senseless violence and my heart is in the kneeling position for these families.

I am sure that during these difficult times that APD will be doing everything they can to bring closure to those harmed.

My hope however is that we can prevent this kind of senseless violence before it happens to another family.

Last week at the Mayors press conference I called for the creation of a Community Led Violence Prevention and intervention Task Force and I am hoping that my peers on the council will respond to this call to action with urgency.”

An email was sent to Thorpe, City Attorney Thomas Lloyd Smith, City Manager Ron Bernal and Police Chief T Brooks asking the following:

Do you think it’s appropriate for the mayor or any council member to use the info they receive from APD about critical incidents in our city to one, announce them on social media or anywhere else and two, to show up at the scene of the incident, prior to the official press release being issued?

Might this cause a challenge for both the police and a possible legal issue for the city should incorrect and premature information be released by either the mayor or one of the council members?

An additional email was sent to all those above and the other four council members asking similar questions, as well as the following:

Shouldn’t there be some kind of restrictions and limitation on the use and dissemination of the information received by council members from the APD about critical incidents that occur in the city, prior to the official release of that information to the public by the APD?

Thorpe Responds

7:00 P.M. UPDATE: In response, in an email Thursday afternoon, Thorpe wrote to the Herald while copying the other council members and city staff, “Asking the Mayor and City Council’s employees to weigh in on your editorializing related to our roles as elected officials is highly inappropriate. So we’re clear, my colleagues and I do not need a special permission slip from the police department or any other department for that matter about our decision making whether it’s on the dais or social media.

As mayor, I have a job to ensure our community is safe and I will do everything in my power to do so including showing up at active crime scenes, homeless encampments that are being actively cleared out, putting out information that I deem appropriate, and more.

We don’t have time for your editorializing and rumor mill operation. The City Manager, City Attorney, Chief, and I have jobs to do. Right now, our job is to figure out how a 12-year(-old) child was murdered, getting answers to the family as well as Antioch residents, bringing those responsible to justice, and preventing senseless murders like this from happening anywhere.

Respectfully,

The Mayor of Antioch”

The following questions and comments were then emailed to Thorpe and the others:

“Please point out what was opinion or rumor in the article I wrote quoting your and Tamisha’s Facebook posts verbatim. Did you not both post your comments hours before the APD press release was issued? Did you not both promote your previously announced anti-violence proposals? Did you not show up at the scene and speak with neighbors?”

“My questions were also appropriately directed to city staff because of the potential legal implications and interference in the police investigation your and Tamisha’s actions, both last night and possibly in the future, and/or those of other council members who jump out ahead of the official press release from the APD could mean for our city.”

Finally, the mayor was asked, “as for keeping our city safe and preventing senseless murders like this from happening – again, your words – how did showing up at the scene and posting your comments on social media before the official press release from APD was issued help accomplish that?”

Thorpe did not respond by 7:00 p.m., Thursday night. Attorney Smith’s email auto response shows he is out of the office until Monday. No responses were received from any of the others as of 7:00 p.m., Thursday night, either. Please check back later for any updates to this report.


the attachments to this post:


Torres-Walker FB post 051221


Thorpe’s FB post 051221


No Comments so far.

Leave a Reply