Two Pasadena City Councilmembers React to Weekend’s Shootings

 

The Pasadena Councilmember who represents the neighborhood that suffered a Friday night shooting that left two men dead, a woman in critical condition and a third man injured reacted Saturday morning, as did a second Councilmember from a nearby Northwest Pasadena District.

In an email, District 3 Councilmenber John Kennedy said “I am hoping that the community will rise up and demand and offer solutions from ourselves, and where appropriate government, as we deal with the root causes of this type of violence and the resolution of conflict in a nonviolent manner.”

District 5 Councilmember Victor Gordo called for more police.

“This appears to be a gang-related incident. I renew my demands that the City Council increase funding and staffing for the Pasadena Police Dept. While this did not occur in my District, it is not acceptable anywhere in our city,” Gordo said by telephone.

The 11:33 p.m. Friday chain of events began with a volley of bullets fired reportedly in the 100 block of West Claremont Street near Fair Oaks Avenue. Responding police found a deceased 23-year-old black man in the 70 block of nearby Pepper Street, and then within minutes located three other victims, one dead, in other parts of the city they now believe to have been victims of the same shooting.

“This is a community tragedy,” Kennedy wrote. “My prayers and condolences go out to the families who have lost loved ones in the shootings that took place on Saturday and the previous horrific murder of Brandon Douglass that took place just several weeks before. We are also praying for the victim struggling for life and others who were injured and are traumatized by these senseless acts of violence.”

Gordo said he is planning to repeat his position to the full City Council at its meeting next week.

“On Monday evening I will reiterate my demand that the City Council increase funding and staffing for the Pasadena Police DepartmentD in order to addresses such as what occurred last evening,” Gordo said.

Kennedy’s statement seemed to encompass the community as a whole:

“Yes, there is a law enforcement response to bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice, that will surely and appropriately take place, but there is also a community response that I am hoping for that is not political, not posturing, and not geographic, as ‘one community under the sun.’” Kennedy wrote. “We must be in this cry for intentional civility, elimination of guns on our streets, job-skills training and promotion of literacy to combat violence, as a whole community.”

“To that end, we are contacting the ecumenical, business and philanthropic community to come together to continue the dialogue we have started in reference to developing real solutions when conventional wisdom defies hope. But, we as a community are smarter than those who perpetuate violence. Together we can make measured steps to solve what appears on the surface intractable. Let’s not just dream and hope for a better day, let’s come together and arrest the violence and develop real solutions!”