| (Oct. 14, 2020, 10:10 a.m.) -- A man was shot/wounded in uptown Bixby Knolls' Scherer Park (8th district/.Austin) at predawn today (Oct. 14), basically steps away from LBPD's North Division police station. Scherer Park stretches from Atlantic Ave. to LB Blvd. just south of Del Amo Blvd. LBPD PIO Brandon Fahey says the shooting occurred in the mid-park area, south side near a parking lot. LBPD's North Division Police Station is in the Atlantic Ave./ NE area of the park.
PIO Fahey tells LBREPORT.com that at about 4:05 a.m., officers at the North Patrol Substation heard a gunshot at a nearby park and immediately responded. "Upon arrival, officers discovered a male adult suspect fleeing the scene and engaged in a foot pursuit before losing sight of the suspect. Additional officers responded to an adult male victim in the park who had sustained a gunshot wound to the upper torso. Officers immediately began life-saving measures until Long Beach Fire arrived" and transported the victim to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers located evidence nearby, including a firearm and bullet casings; the motive for the shooting is unknown; the investigation is ongoing. Just hours earlier, nearby NLB had a shooting that left a man wounded in the 6000 block of Obispo Ave. (9th district/Richardson.) [Scroll down for further.] |
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8th district Council incumbent Austin (elected 2012) is seeking a third term as one of LB's few remaining incumbents (along with 6th district incumbent Dee Andrews and then-Councilman Robert Garcia) who voted for budgets that defunded LBPD's field anti-gang unit and has since failed make budget motions to restore the unit's 20 officers + 2 sergeants. In June 2016, LB voters approved the Measure A's ("blank check") sales tax increase that gave City Hall $60+ million annually prior to COVID-19. Restoring the full 22-member field anti-gang unit would cost roughly $6 million annually.
Neither of the two 8th district candidates in the November runoff have prioriized restoring police for taxpayers (including the field anti-gang unit.) Austin, backed by Mayor Garcia and the LB Police Officers Ass'n PAC, voted in September for a FY21 budget that defunds 48 more officers on top of 180+ officers previously defunded and not restored (2009-2015.) Challenger Thrash-Ntuk , backed by development interests and organized labor, frequently uses an equivocal verbal device, saying she doesn't "necessarily" believe in restoring the erased officers (leaving unclear what she does or doesn't support.) Reform Ticket candidate Juan Ovalle, who clearly supported restoring the field anti-gang unit, finished 141 votes behind Austin in a March initial election.
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