Residents of neighborhoods surrounding the scene of Juan
Arellano, Jr.’s fatal shooting poured into P.A. Walsh Elementary
School’s auditorium Thursday night to offer suggestions and ask
police for more help to keep their kids safe from what could be a
rising tide of gang activity.
Residents of neighborhoods surrounding the scene of Juan Arellano, Jr.’s fatal shooting poured into P.A. Walsh Elementary School’s auditorium Thursday night to offer suggestions and ask police for more help to keep their kids safe from what could be a rising tide of gang activity.
The community meeting was conducted by the city of Morgan Hill, and moderated by Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming and numerous officers from the department.
The key purpose of the meeting was to let residents know that police are working on the investigations of three violent gang-related incidents that happened the night of Oct. 2, including the killing of Arellano in front of the Crest Avenue apartments.
Cumming opened the meeting describing the attacks – the beating of a 16-year-old male near Main and Hale avenues, the stabbing of a 31-year-old Gilroy resident outside StriXe Lounge at Tennant Station, and Arellano’s homicide on Crest Avenue. Although gang activity is not new to Morgan Hill, the crimes followed a “pretty quiet” summer in Morgan Hill, Cumming said.
“We care deeply about this community and all of Morgan Hill,” Cumming told the crowd of about 200. “Solving these crimes is the primary concern of the police department.”
The meeting took place about four blocks south of the scene of the Oct. 2 homicide. Bilingual MHPD officers translated remarks by Cumming and audience members for attendees who only spoke Spanish.
Police believe all the incidents of Oct. 2 were related to ongoing tensions between two rival gangs that are active in Morgan Hill. Plus, a series of similar violent incidents in Gilroy that followed Arellano’s death – including a non-fatal shooting and an assault on an individual with baseball bats and a knife – could be related to the same tensions, Cumming said Thursday. He said MHPD is working with Gilroy police in the investigation of those crimes.
Cumming urged people at the meeting to share any information they have about the crimes with police, and to call police any time they see suspicious or violent activity in the neighborhood.
“Crimes are solved when police and the community work together,” Cumming said. “This is your community and we need to stop gang violence in its tracks.”
A pamphlet published by the California Attorney General’s Office entitled “Gangs: A community response,” was distributed at the meeting. The pamphlet provided information such as how to identify gang activity that often happens next-door to law-abiding citizens, and how parents can determine if their child becomes involved in gang life.
Most of the two-hour meeting was devoted to questions and comments from the audience. Several parents asked police what kinds of intervention or prevention programs are offered in Morgan Hill to keep kids away from gangs.
Police responded that the department conducts a 14-week “parenting program,” which allows the parents of troubled or at-risk youth to gain advice and counseling on how to deal with their kids’ problems. At the same time, the program uses campus police officers and counselors to talk to the kids separately at school, away from the parents.
Police also participate in a federally funded program known as Gang Resistance Education and Training, which brings police into classrooms for lessons and presentations on how to identify and avoid gangs.
The MHPD works with Community Solutions to quickly reach at-risk, low-level youth offenders with counseling and contact with the parents through the Status Offenders Services program, instead of citing them for minor offenses and sluggishly processing them through the probation system, explained Cmdr. Joe Sampson.
One parent commented in Spanish that parents should be responsible for their kids by watching out for their safety and teaching them proper behavior. Drawing applause, she said the police should not be expected to act as parents to the community.
“You brought your children into the world, and you need to take care of them,” Officer Carlos Guerrero translated to the parents.
Brandy Perrera, a Community Solutions counselor, added, “If you don’t know where your children are, it’s because they’re doing something they don’t want you to know about.”
In response to residents asking what the police are doing on the streets to curb violence, Cumming said the MHPD’s Street Crimes Unit routinely goes out at night to contact people with violent histories, including known gang members, parolees, and probationers. This contact often results in arrests that remove violent people from the community, and informs police about factors surrounding the subjects’ lives that attracts them to crime.
“When we talk to them, it’s clear there could be a better life for them,” Cumming said.
Responding to an audience member asking why gang members from other communities such as Salinas are attracted to Morgan Hill to visit, Cumming said it could be because of “pressure” in Salinas, which is inundated with gangs and is “extraordinarily violent.”
But he added there has been gang activity in Morgan Hill for several years.
Jerrica Dexter, a Mt. Madonna YMCA director who attended the meeting Thursday, said Morgan Hill neighborhoods should conduct similar community meetings frequently, and Cumming agreed.
“It’s too bad it took a tragedy to bring the community together like this,” Dexter said.
Anyone with information about recent gang-related crimes may call the Morgan Hill Police Department at 779-2101, or the anonymous tip line at 947-7867.
