Man Fatally Shot (Fri Nite June 6), 17th/Alamitos In Exchange of Gunfire; LBPD Investigating As Possibly Gang Related

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(June 6, 2015, 6:20 p.m.) -- In what would become the first of three shootings -- two fatal -- overnight Friday (June 5) into Saturday predawn (June 6), a 20 year old Long Beach man was fatally shot in the 1200 block of E. 17th St. (where Alamitos Ave. ends at Orange Ave.) LBPD says in a release below that its preliminary investigation indicates there was an exchange of gunfire after the victim became involved in a dispute with an unknown number of male subjects. The dispute escalated into an exchange of gunfire between the victim and suspect(s) who remain outstanding.

LBPD is investigating the shooting as possibly gang-related.

Red Xs=2014 and 2015 murders to date; Blue Xs=2014 and 2015 shootings, person wounded; Brown Xs=shots fired at victim(s), not hit; Purple Xs=2014 shots at occupied residence/vehicle; Green Xs=shots at unoccupied vehicle/residence; Grey Xs=shots fired (no hit, no target identified); Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial. A separate map (not shown here) indicates add'l shootings in Central/WLB.

[LBPD release text] On Friday, June 5, 2015, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Long Beach Police responded to a shooting in the 1200 block of E. 17th Street, which resulted in the death of a male adult.
When officers arrived, they discovered the victim, identified as 20-year-old Anthony Holston of Long Beach, had been struck in the upper body by gunfire. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics transported Victim Holston to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
The preliminary investigation revealed the victim had become involved in a dispute with an unknown number of male subjects. The dispute escalated and there was an exchange of gunfire between the victim and suspect(s), who remain outstanding. The incident is being investigated as possibly gang-related.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Hugo Cortes and Oscar Valenzuela at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), texting TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.

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As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, about two hours later, a 18 year old was shot and pronounced dead in the street in the 5400 block of Elm Ave. LBPD saya a motive for the shooting is currently unknown, detectives are investigating the fatal shooting as possibly gang related. (LBREPORT.com coverage here.)

And in the 4 a.m. hour, a man was shot and wounded in the roughly 1000-1100 block of Cedar Ave. in LB's historic Willmore City neighborhood. (LBPD's overnight Watch Commander indicated the victim was "uncooperative" with LBPD investigators.)

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In Sept. 2014, a Council majority approved without dissent, a FY15 (current) budget (recommended by both current Mayor Garcia and exiting Mayor Foster) that no longer funds LBPD's now-former field anti-gang unit. The field anti-gang unit previously deployed twenty officers plus two sergeants in gang impacted areas where they could interact with residents and gather intelligence. LBPD continues to maintain a conventional gang unit (often working indoors on investigations and the like) but L.A. County's second largest city no longer has the field anti-gang unit that LB taxpayers had until September 2012 (chronology below.)

In August 2012, then-Mayor Bob Foster recommended a FY13 budget that proposed to eliminate the unit, and then-Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, chosen by Foster to chair the Council's Public Safety Committee, held no hearings on the public safety aspects of the Foster proposed budget. However the Council balked and voted to fund half of the field anti-gang unit using "one time" funds for a year.

A year later in September 2013, again with no hearings by Garcia's Public Safety Committee on the proposed budget, the Council failed to budget additional sums for the field anti-gang unit, which LBPD scrambled to maintain at a further reduced level by drawing officers from patrol and backfilling with overtime.

In July 2014, exiting Mayor Foster and entering Mayor Garcia both recommended a FY15 budget without funding for the field anti-gang unit. The Council's Public Safety Committee, now headed by Councilwoman Suzie Price (chosen by as chair by Garcia and endorsed for office by Foster) held no hearings on public safety aspects of the Garcia-Foster proposed FY15 budget (saying such an action would be "unprecedented.") In September 2014, the Council voted without dissent to adopt a FY15 budget that provided no funding for LBPD's field anti-gang unit.