Violence continued to plague Santa Monica last week with yet another multiple shooting.
This time two men were shot in broad daylight in the Pico Neighborhood, with one succumbing to his injuries. Police have already made arrests in that shooting and have discovered more facts about the shooting that left five dead near Santa Monica College on June 7.
This past week Q-line asked:
How do you rate the police response to the recent rash of shootings that have left six dead and a community reeling?
"Well as a former landlord in this town of SanMalicious I thought the police response this last week for those injuries and deaths was stupendous. A number of different police departments were called into question and they came to SanMalicious and I think it was great."
"Fifteen minutes was a long response time to a mass shooting. Serious questions should be asked about whether the last two victims could have been saved. Perhaps if the Santa Monica Police changed their top priority from writing parking tickets, to protecting the people who live, work and visit our city, lives would be saved."
"Police shot and killed the gunman. That is the only way to deal with this type of situation. No worries of him trying to get off using insanity as an excuse."
"Our police should be commended for a job well done. I watched it from start to finish on TV. They seemed to fly into action instantly. I'm not a bean counter, but I was proud to see our police chief, a woman of color so well-spoken and in such command of the situation when she spoke in the press conference. And I was shocked to see several of our police SWAT team appear very early on decked out with full battle gear and back packs looking for all the world like Special Forces. All in all the city, the community, and the police didn't miss a beat in performing their duties and couldn't have better represented us when the whole world was watching."
"Your question infers that the police response has not been thorough enough. I guess you have been listening to all the usual shakedown artists who appear whenever there is a tragedy in this town. Blaming other people for not supporting Santa Monica's Cradle to Grave neo-Marxist ideology is the de rigueur of modern politics in this town. Too bad the police will be blamed for not stopping all evil. Too bad the professional race agitators will smear all with anti-capitalistic individualism. Too bad those who pontificate the loudest are those who have missed the greater tragedy of Santa Monica."
"I feel that they deserve A-plus, plus, plus. It was a difficult situation and they handled it quite well. I live in somewhat near the neighborhood and find it was just terrific about how people responded. It's tragic about the things that happened, but some of these things are just not preventable, no matter gun control or anything else. Some people are just going to do those kinds of things so it's about how the rest of us respond. Thank you very much to the police, fire department and everyone in the city."
"The Santa Monica Police Department and the SMC Police Department should be commended for their professionalism. They took out the SMC shooter, saving many lives. With respect to the Michigan Avenue alley murder, the shooter and driver were caught within an hour of the murder. This gang-related shooting was inevitable due to the city's actions. President Clinton's Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted a study ‘In the Crossfire,' which concluded gun violence is higher in neighborhoods with an overconcentration of low-income housing. Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights and Community Corp. of Santa Monica have flooded the Pico Neighborhood with low-income housing projects. Thus it is no surprise this shooting happened. It is the 43rd gang-related murder in the Pico Neighborhood since Community Corp. started dumping the projects in the Pico Neighborhood. We need more police to patrol the Pico Neighborhood. In addition, we need the city to flood north of Wilshire with low-income, multi-family rental housing so the low-income families in the Pico Neighborhood can have an opportunity to escape the ghetto."
"The police are overpaid and have too many benefits. The only time you see them is when they're driving their ATVs on the beach, hanging out at the Third Street Promenade or parked in front of a restaurant. Why aren't they visible and walking streets like Pico (shootings) or Montana (jewelry heist)? Being highly visible throughout the city would prevent crime. They need some new leadership; time to be proactive instead of just reactive to crime."
