Monday Morning Bullpen: When Will Gun Violence Come Up at Council

This week there is not a lot happening with city government due to the holiday.

After two weeks with relatively short agendas, one of which was just a consent calendar, the City Council has a longer consent calendar this week.

The big and, perhaps most relevant, item on Monday’s agenda is the body worn cameras (BWC).

That item is a $1,709,591 contract amendment for the city’s body worn camera system.

“The newer version of the body worn cameras has the capability to automatically activate when a firearm is removed from its holster, which will ensure the body worn camera is activated during a critical incident,” according to a city staff report.

In the city’s most recent officer-involved shooting, one officer failed to turn on his body-worn camera.

In that incident, police shot and killed Anthony McClain after McClain fled during a traffic stop.

Police claim McClain had a gun.

According to police policy, if the immediate activation of the BWC is not feasible due to an imminent risk to the safety of the officer or others, the officer will activate the BWC at the first available opportunity after the immediate threat has been addressed.

Late last week, the city reached a settlement on behalf of McClain’s children for $7.5 million.

The settlement and the body worn camera item should draw some comments on Monday, including the weekly ‘fire the City Manager,’ ‘fire the Police Chief’ diatribes.

However, the incident that should receive the bulk of the comments is the shooting death of the 13-year old boy on Raymond Avenue on Saturday night.

The unidentified boy was playing a video game and other members of his family were at home in the 900 block of N. Raymond Ave. when the gunfire occurred at around 6:12 p.m., Lt. William Grisafe said.

The bullet came from somewhere outside of the house and the stray bullet entered through a window and struck the child, according to Cmdr. Mark Goodman.

Officers performed CPR on the boy and paramedics rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The target of the shooting is not known, but it does not appear to be the boy, according to Goodman.

Investigators have no suspect information and are asking the public to come forward with information.

I have to wonder: who is going to march for this child? Who is going to call the City Council and demand the city come together and do something about the proliferation of guns on the street?

Late last month, Jamal Dion Patterson died at a hospital after he was fatally wounded in a shooting in the 1000 block of Summit Avenue, according to Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani.

No racial justice warriors were screaming about that one, either.

Gun violence among young people is the biggest issue in Pasadena. Yes, the police take hundreds of guns off the streets every year, but all it takes is one.

On Saturday, that one was in use and now a 13-year-old boy won’t grow up.

The 20 minutes for public comments on matters not on the agenda is not just for demands for apologies, calls for the firing of city employees or housing on church property.

The proliferation of guns is not on the agenda, but it should be.

Here’s hoping everybody can act like they have some common sense when they call in.

The Design commission meets at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The big item here is the new four story medical office building with subterranean parking at 590 S. Fair Oaks Avenue. The item is up for Final Design Review.

The other item is a new two-to-three story, 13-unit multifamily development with at-grade parking. That’s also up for final design review.

The Finance Committee meets on Monday right before the City Council. All of the items are in the consent calendar. I don’t like the Monday committee meetings. Hard to give items scrutiny that go from committee to council in an hour and a half.