| (July 28, 2021, 5:45 a.m., updated 1:20 p.m.) -- Long Beach's CD 1 (Zendejas), which has had the highest number of shootings (fatal + wounding + casings found) since Jan. 1, 2021 had another "person hit" shooting on Monday night that left strike marks on at least building in an alley in the area of 10th St/Cedar Ave.
UPDATE: The victim was in his backyard when he was hit by the gunfire from an argument in a nearby alley. [END UPDATE]
The crime scene is roughly ten blocks north of LB's new Civic Center. LBPD Watch Commander Lt. Bob Titus says (preliminary information) that on July 27 at 8;02 p.m. South Division officers were sent to a shots call in the 1000 block of Cedar Ave. They found a man with what officers said was very minor wound (treated by LBFD on scene) and the shooter fled the area prior to officers' arrival. "The victim stated he was in his backyard on the 1000 block of Cedar Avenue when he heard arguing coming from the alley followed by presumed gunfire. This resulted in the victim being shot in the lower torso, says LBPD PIO Richard Mejia." The City of Long Beach (LA County's second largest city) has a thinner per capita police level than Los Angeles, roughly the equivalent of cutting over a third of LA's police officers (based on FY21 Long Beach budgeted citywide deployable non-contracted officers.) The City's police level is set by the City Council. In September 2020, the Council defunded 48 officers on top of roughly 180 officers that a previous Council erased in budgets from 2009-2014. Amid calls by some to reduce LBPD's funding further, on July 20, 2020, the City Council voted (8-0, Austin absent) to adopt a Mayor/Mgmt-supported "safety recovery plan" that will spend roughly $8.6 million items including backfilling/maintaining LBPD's current level but not restoring any of the now roughly 230 budgeted officers that Long Beach had but no longer has. The remainder of the plan allocates sums to non-police spending (including Parks and Rec items labeled by city management as "prevention.") At the July 20 Council meeting, a number of speakers (including those supporting a self-described "Peoples Budget") called for reducing LBPD's budget still further. No groups spoke in support of restoring the now-roughly 230 officers that LB had and no longer has. The City of Long Beach (LA County's second largest city) currently provides its taxpayers with a significantly lower level of per capita police than Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Signal Hill and no longer has its former field anti-gang unit. . [Scroll down for further.] |
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