Antioch mayor claims 14 shootings in September are part of “gang rivalries” wants help from DA, regional partners, CHP
Informs public instead of police chief about efforts, requests following violence ending in deaths of two men
Also suggests possibly “restricting access” to the city’s two high-crime neighborhoods, a “curfew”, asking “governor to send the National Guard“
“There are gang overtures to this 100%. But I do think there are other motives,” – Interim Chief Brian Addington who has already requested help from DA, CHP.
“We can’t say for sure it’s gang related. I’m sure it probably plays a factor. That’s something we’re still investigating.” – Investigations Lt. Desmond Bittner
By Allen D. Payton
In a post on his official Instagram account on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe said the spate of recent shootings in the city are due to a gang war. As of Sunday morning, there have been 14 shootings this month, two that resulted in the deaths of two young men, ages 20 and 18, and are now being investigated as homicides, and one of businesses and a vehicle. The mayor made the announcement while standing alone at the podium inside the Council Chambers and reading from prepared remarks. He’s asking the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, regional law enforcement partners and CHP to help the City’s depleted police force which is currently down 40 sworn officers from 115 approved by the council. Hernandez-Thorpe also said, “if the violence does not subside,” he is “calling on the governor to send the National Guard”.
In his announcement he said, “My fellow Antioch residents, I’m Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe. No resident should live in fear. Absolutely no one. Especially in the city of Antioch. Unfortunately, residents in the Sycamore corridor and off of Cavallo Road have experienced an unprecedented level of gun violence as a result of a man who was killed on September 2nd.” However, the individual shot on September 2nd died of his injuries while in the hospital on Sept. 5th. (See related articles here and here)
“Those communities have experienced over two weeks, two weeks of unnecessary shootings. We believe that the shootings are retaliatory in nature and are being investigated as gang-rivalries,” the mayor stated. “As a result of the violence, we’ve added extra patrols to the Sycamore community at undisclosed times.”
“Since this appears to be retaliatory in nature, yesterday, another individual was a victim of gun violence around Cavallo Road,” Hernandez-Thorpe continued. (See related articles here and here)
“These gangs, let me be very clear. These gangs have no regard for human life, they have no regard for law enforcement, and they have no regard for you or me,” he stated. “Therefore, I’m calling on the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office to support the Antioch Police Department, through the Safe Streets Task Force. We need your help, both immediately and for long-term eradication of these gangs.”
“We also need to hold these gang members accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
“I’m also calling for mutual assistance from our regional law enforcement partners so that we can continue to add more patrols to both the Sycamore and Cavallo Road.
“Lastly, I’m calling on Governor Newsom for more CHP support to again, support our efforts in Cavallo Road and in the Sycamore corridor.
“Since the start of the wave of gun violence, I’ve been in constant communication with the Antioch police chief and Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker who represents both these communities.
“I’m also in constant communication with local leaders and faith leaders who I will be meeting with tomorrow to see if we can develop community-led solutions to some of these challenges and to reassure the public that we’re working on this.
“If the violence does not subside, I will continue to push for tougher action and tougher measures to end the violence. That will include restricting access to the Sycamore community and restricting access to Cavallo Road.” However, the most recent shooting, which injured a man and a woman on Sunday morning, occurred in the parking lot of the Antioch Square shopping center located on the corner of W. 18th and A Streets. (See related article)
The mayor also proposed “a curfew and calling on the governor to send the National Guard so we can bring an end to the gun violence.”
“I can’t reiterate that no community, no resident in the city of Antioch should live in fear. We will work hard to bring an end to this violence,” he concluded.
In addition to the 13 shootings of individuals in September resulting in two deaths, a 14th shooting occurred Saturday night of businesses and a vehicle on Sycamore Drive. (See related article)
Regarding the Safe Streets Task Force the Contra Costa DA’s Office shares, “In collaboration with the FBI, the Office has formulated a countywide task force to fight violent crime on a countywide basis. The task force includes several FBI agents, investigators from the District Attorney’s Office, and officers from the Pittsburg, Antioch, and Richmond Police Departments, and the Sheriff’s Office. This task force will operate throughout the county in innovative ways to reduce violent crime.”
Ogorchock Not Aware of Gang War or Mayor’s Announcement, Barbanica Said He Knew, Wanted Chief to Provide Proper Information
Asked if she was aware of the mayor’s announcement, District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock said, “I had no idea. I don’t know this is a gang war.”
District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica said he was aware, but the former police lieutenant shared, “Do I have some information about the shootings? Of course. There’s a reason I haven’t gone public with it. I want to be very careful…I want it coming from the police department because they know what they can and can’t release and to not interfere with the investigations.”
“I told the mayor the general public needs to understand what’s occurring, here,” he continued. “There are people out there in fear and we need to calm down the fear and have the police department let the public know. What does he do? He goes out and does his own press release. That’s not how it’s done.”
“As politicians we’re given information prior to it going to the public,” Barbanica stated. “I’m not going to comment on a gang war or anything, because I don’t want to interfere with the investigations.”
“If the police department has information they want to share that’s fine,” the councilman continued. “Not a local politician who doesn’t have all the information. The last thing we want to do is hamper an investigation by releasing the wrong information. I’m all for the public being informed but by the right source, with what is deemed appropriate for the public to know at this point. It’s a balancing act.”
Questions for Hernandez-Thorpe
Questions were sent to Hernandez-Thorpe was Monday morning asking who told him that the recent shootings are part of a gang war and when did you learn it, if the information was shared with all the council members and if has contacted District Attorney Diana Becton about the matter and what shared in his announcement.
The mayor was also asked if he still believes the shootings from this gang war are due to a lack of jobs for the individuals involved, as he mentioned in a TV news interview last week.
He did not respond prior to publication time.
Questions for City Manager, Police Chief
In addition, a link to the mayor’s Instagram video and questions were sent to Acting City Manager Kwame Reed and Interim Police Chief Brian Addington asking to confirm what Hernandez-Thorpe announced, that the shootings are part of a gang war.
They were also asked where he obtained his information, when was it shared with him, and if it was also shared with all the council members. The two city staff leaders were also asked if they knew Hernandez-Thorpe was going to announce it and did they want the public to know that information.
Finally, they were asked what can be done with the DA’s Office and the Governor’s office to help.
Police Chief Says More Officers Assigned to Sycamore Area, Has Asked CHP, DA’s Task Force for Help
In response, Addington said, “It’s no secret that we’ve been in contact with the CHP and they’ve sent in patrols three times. We post it every time on our social media. They’ve come out three different days and worked a 10-hour shift. I believe it’s been six CHP Officers. But they haven’t been able to send anyone out for the past couple months. So, I reached out to them to let them know we’ve had several shootings and asked for their assistance.”
“They’re also doing this in Oakland and San Francisco,” he added.
Asked about the Safe Streets Task Force, the chief said, “That’s always been an option. It used to be the FBI’s but now it’s run by the DA’s office. I’ve been in contact with them on Friday and on Sunday.”
“They’re move of an investigative task force. Due to staffing levels, we haven’t been able to have an Antioch officer assigned there. So, we’re looking to do that.
“I don’t want to say the DA’s office doesn’t work collaboratively with us on these violent crimes because they do,” Addington stated. “We just are asking what else they can do. If we assign one of our investigators to their task force, what else does that bring. They said, it brings additional investigatory resources.”
Asked about additional information on the shootings the chief said, “Anything official on the cases will come from the police department. There are gang overtures to this 100%. But I do think there are other motives. We’re actively investigating and making progress. This information changes as we investigation. These are all very fluid. We corroborate and eliminate information pretty rapidly in these investigations.”
“The officers that we have assigned to Sycamore on Friday have already reduced the shootings, there,” he said. “We’ve had meetings with our faith-based leaders, as well.”
“If the community has any information about the shootings, please contact Detective Cox,” the chief added. His contact information is (925) 481-8147 or by email jcox@antiochca.gov.
Addington said the police department will provide more information about the shootings Monday afternoon.
Department Staffing Update
About department staffing and the addition of sworn officers he shared, “We’re doing everything we can to get things under control. We have seven new officers in the Field Training right now, and some of them are laterals. Our numbers are improving but it takes time. We have 17 total in or are scheduled to go to the academy. I guarantee we will have more who will go before the academies start.”
UPDATE 1: During the press briefing Monday afternoon, Lt. Desmond Bittner said, “I can’t say for certain that all the shootings are related to the initial homicide Elijah Scales that happened on September 2nd. But we believe that they’re related, not all of them. They’re still under investigation, all of them. We haven’t made any arrests on them. We can tell you…the shooting that occurred at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, that one is not related in any way.”
“And then the shootings that happened this past weekend…on Cavallo and Sunset, that we do not believe is related to anything from the Sycamore corridor from the Elijah Scales shooting,” he continued. “The same for the shooting that occurred on East 18th Street and A, that’s not related, either…to anything on the Sycamore corridor.”
“The shooting that happened the other night (Saturday) in the 1100 block of Sycamore…at least 17 rounds fired, nobody was struck,” Bittner stated. “Three of the businesses were hit by gunfire.”
“We did have a shooting on Cavallo. This was the 16th, I believe,” the lieutenant continued. “A male was shot at a memorial location for Elijah Scales. The last we were aware he was still in critical condition and that’s still under investigation.”
Asked for an update on the man shot at the shopping center on Sunday Bittner said, “He’s still in critical condition. That’s still under investigation.”
Asked by another reporter, “are we talking about feuding groups of gangs,” the lieutenant responded, “It’s hard to say. We can’t say for sure it’s gang related. I’m sure it probably plays a factor. That’s something we’re still investigating.”
Asked for any message he wanted to put out to the public Bittner said, “My message is pretty similar to what the chief said last week and that this isn’t going to be tolerated, and everybody deserves to live in a safe community, and we just want to keep things as safe as possible and all this needs to stop. So, we’re going to do all we can to make sure this comes to a stop.”
Asked by another reporter if Elijah Scales was known to the police for any previous criminal activity, he said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
Asked about the man who was shot at Scales’ memorial Bittner said, “I think he was in his late- to mid-40’s and he was an associate of Elijah Scales’ family.” Asked if the shooting was a drive-up, drive-by or walk-up the lieutenant responded, “I believe it was a drive-by.”
“All our officers on the patrol level are doing a great job responding quickly conducting thorough investigations,” Bittner stated. “And then if it rises to the level of where our investigators come out, our investigators are doing the same thing. Every case like this, every shooting we take seriously. We do very detailed, thorough investigations. We do all we can to try and identify the people responsible.”
Asked what he would say to residents who might be concerned or are scared the lieutenant responded, “I’d say try to be vigilant. If you see something that doesn’t look right, notify the police. If you do hear gunfire, do the right thing, call the police and let us know. Be a good witness.”
Bittner was also asked for any motive for the shooting on Sunday and said, “At this point we’re still working on it. We don’t have a motive identified.”
Asked about the suspects who were seen walking away from the scene the lieutenant said, “I believe we have some strong leads as far as suspects, vehicles and so forth. So, that case is looking good. I’m pretty confident we’ll get it resolved.”
Addington also added, the shooting of the “18-year-old on Cavallo was an isolated incident, the shooting at Rite Aid (on Sunday morning) is unrelated” to the others and “one of the shootings had a domestic aspect to it.”
About the other shootings Addison added, “It’s a turf issue.” (See related article)
Please check back later for any other updates to this report.
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Hernandez-Thorpe shootings announcement 09-22-24 & photos
