A man was shot and killed Thursday afternoon at Lowell Park at the intersection of 4th and P streets. That park is just north of Emerson Middle School.
And earlier this week, the Bakersfield Police Department released a picture of a sawed-off shotgun with the words “Game Over” carved into it. BPD officers recovered the gun after a traffic stop and the two individuals in the car were arrested for firearm and gang related charges.
That gun is just one of many that BPD has taken off of the streets this year.
Sergeant Gary Carruesco said since January 1st, police have seized more than 329 firearms of all different sizes and calibers. Sgt. Carruesco compared the number to last year in which BPD seized 688 firearms total.
“If you break it down, that means officers came in contact with nearly two firearms per day, so that’s pretty good odds that officers going out on the streets are going to come in to contact with somebody with a firearm,” said Sgt. Carruesco.
Sgt. Carruesco said of those shootings 63 were gang-related and were the cause of five of the 21 homicides on record.
Officials mapped each gang-related shooting in 2015 and determined the majority of incidents happened within a two-mile radius.
According to Sgt. Carruesco that two-mile radius is between California Ave. on the north, White Lane on the south, Cottonwood/Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd on the east and Chester Ave. on the west.
“Pretty small area of the town, but a lot of our gang shootings happened there,” said Sgt. Carruesco.
Now, BPD is using that information to tailor their current efforts to get illegal firearms off the street.
“We look at the stats from last year as well as what’s taking place right now. One of the things for us, is we have officers assigned to each of the zones, looking at what’s going on in our areas on a weekly basis. So if there’s something going on that we need to address, we go out there and try to address it,” said Sergeant Don Cegielski who took 23ABC on a ride-along during a Saturday night shift.
Sgt. Cegielski patrols in the two-mile radius where the majority of the gang shootings happened last year. During the early parts of his shift, he drives by the areas where violent crimes have happened before.
He pauses for a moment to respond to dispatch about a call, before telling 23ABC when the temperature goes up, so do the amount of violent crimes.
“That’s possibly because there’s more people that are out and about and for some reason they become more active.” Sgt. Cegielski said. “I think in the cooler weather or rain, stuff like that it kind of keeps people in their houses and stuff like that, but the nice weather, the hot weather, pushes people out into their yards and out into the streets where we see more people and things are a little bit more active.”
Sgt. Cegielski said the best thing residents can do to keep their community safe is by engaging in groups like the neighborhood watch, adding that those who live in the neighborhood know who belongs there and who doesn’t.
At the end of the ride-along Sgt Cegielski said BPD knows there is always going to be violence, but they’re doing everything they can to be proactive.
“I don’t think there’s any way to just stop it, so for us, for the guys who work for me you know it’s be out there, high visibility, talk to people know what’s going on and hopefully we can prevent something like that from happening,” said Sgt. Cegielski.
Back at BPD headquarters, Sgt. Carruesco takes 23ABC through a variety of guns that have been seized in the past. One of the guns displayed on the table is smaller than an iPhone 6.
Sgt. Carruesco said it is very easy for guns purchased legally to fall in the wrong hands, which then leads to higher crime rates.
“A lot of these guns are obtained from home burglaries. Gang members will go burglarize homes, hoping to find guns and other valuables those guns then get on the street, they’re sold and then they’re used for wrong reasons. That’s where the shootings and homicides and things like that occur,” said Sgt. Carruesco.
Sgt. Carruesco said the best thing gun owners can do is lock their weapons in a safe. He acknowledged that many people keep their guns under their mattress or in their dresser drawer for protection, but said that’s what’s making it easy for burglars to get access to them.
“The more guns that we can lock up in our homes, the harder it’s going to be for these guys to get them when they commit these crimes,” said Sgt. Carruesco.
