BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Despite recent progress in reducing homicide rates and gunshot incidents, gang violence remains a persistent threat in Bakersfield — especially for the city’s youth.
- Those on the front lines of prevention say young people are increasingly vulnerable to gang influence, with exposure beginning earlier and becoming more normalized through social media and community dynamics.
- According to Bakersfield police, juvenile arrests for violent crimes have increased by 60% in the last four years, from 99 in 2021 to 159 in 2024. Despite the rising juvenile crime rate, BPD said gun-related arrests among youth have dropped by 52% over the past three years.
Jaubrae Dixon knows the realities of gun and gang violence intimately.
“This is the same park where I was ripping and running,” Dixon said, standing in Lowell Park, where he once spent his days involved in gang activity.
“I was a part of the problem, and now I'm able to come and be an asset and be a solution,” he said.
Dixon, one of eight siblings raised by a single mother, lost his father at age 4. That loss, he said, left a void he tried to fill in the streets.
“I didn't think I even learned his name until I was about nine, ten years old," he said "Things happen, disconnects happen, so we go try to find and substitute it with someone else."
That search led him to gangs.
“It was these stories: ‘Your dad was this. Your dad was this…’ So I believe that initially, in large part, me pursuing life in the streets and the gangs — Hey, this is a neighborhood that he was ripping and running,” Dixon said.
By 13, Dixon identified with gang culture. At 17, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempted murder, the result of a plea deal despite having no prior record and causing no physical harm.
“You know, I have this park, this area tattooed on me, you know, for that reason — because this was home,” he said. “Ultimately, I placed myself in a situation that I had to face the consequences of my action.”
Sergeant John Otterness, who leads the Bakersfield Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit, said youth exposure to gangs often begins with what they see around them.
“It's what the younger kids are exposed to. So if they see it, it becomes normal to them,” Otterness said. “They see so much of these gang members that are hanging out and they have a lot of money, they've got cars, they've got girls. I think it's very enticing for young adults to see that and be like, that's cool, that's what I want."
The unit regularly conducts warrant services and probation searches targeting gang activity. On one recent patrol, officers intercepted a vehicle believed to be connected to a rival gang.
“Able to stop, and then we were able to get a firearm off that vehicle. So, 99% sure they were looking to do a shooting,” Otterness said.
As gangs continue to influence younger adults and even teens, Otterness said one thing that has changed is the role social media plays in how youth are exposed to the gang lifestyle.
“In the last 10 to 15 years, I think that's definitely something that's changed a lot,” he said. “I don't want to dive into that super deep details as far as the social media, but it's out there, it's out to the public.”
Tracking social media can often alert them to risks, such as members or even teens with illegal firearms, but that doesn’t stop them from monitoring known gang territories or hangout spots.
“Yeah, we see them, and obviously, this is kind of a neutral spot that we can kind of get a conflict from rival gangs we do our best to kind of monitor it, make sure that we don't start to see two rival gang members down here,” Otterness said.
Even one sighting of a rival gang member can lead to shots being fired. That was the case in the shooting that eventually led to Dixon’s incarceration.
“Seeing it normalized on TV, you hear about it. Like, I remember my first time actually having a firearm, and for some reason, like, I feel empowered,” Dixon said.
Gang rivalries can ignite quickly — especially during large public gatherings. That was the case in the Lotus Lane shooting, which occurred the same day as the city’s Black History Month parade. Carl Powell Jr., 44, was killed in the shooting.
“There’d actually been a few shootings two three weeks leading up to that one,” Otterness said. "So we’d actually come in early that day."
The suspects arrested in this case — aged 18, 15, and 14 — all had gang affiliations.
Aaron Johnson, a peacekeeper and victim advocate with Garden Pathways, responded to the scene.
“This is a young man who's been living in this community all his life,” said Johnson, who served 27 years in prison for a retaliatory gang-related murder.
“Forty-four years old — and still has to be subjected to wondering if he's going to get caught up by a stray bullet. It's difficult in Bakersfield because a lot of these communities are family members,” he said. “So they really — you know, they're killing each other and they're family.”
Johnson works with victims and suspects alike — from hospital beds to juvenile detention — aiming to interrupt violence before it escalates.
“Because they pick that behavior up, they see the Internet. They see how the music videos mimic how to go kill someone,” he said.
According to Bakersfield police, juvenile arrests for violent crimes have increased by 60% in the last four years, from 99 in 2021 to 159 in 2024.
“It’s part of them being respected. If they can go to Juvenile Hall for a gun — that's a brownie point," Johnson said. "And a lot of times, they just do like 90 days, and they be back out on the street again."
Both Johnson and Dixon believe early mentorship is essential to breaking the cycle.
“They start believing in you a lot more because you're doing something that someone else — they never did before,” Johnson said.
“We can't believe that we can change if we don't have an example of it in front of us,” added Dixon.
While in prison, Dixon found a mentor who helped him begin that transformation. He lost two brothers to gang-related shootings in 2016 — within 30 days of each other.
“Family men, they took care of their kids, they worked. But on their free time, they gang banged and tragically, their lives were taken,” Dixon said.
Now more than a year out of prison and off parole, Dixon runs his own mentorship program, “C.H.A.N.G.E.S,” holding group sessions in the same prison where he once served time.
“The West Side Crips, the Sixth Street Park — all these different types of things, I felt like was, to a large degree, connected with me getting connected with my father,” he said. “This place used to feel like home, but I see now that it wasn’t. It was just where I went to hide from my trauma.”
Despite the rising juvenile crime rate, Bakersfield police said gun-related arrests among youth have dropped by 52% over the past three years. In 2022, there were 119 juveniles arrested with guns. That number decreased to 56 in 2024.
“The data has proven that we need to kind of branch out in a different direction,” he said. “That's kind of what we've done in the last few years — specifically targeting who we believe we are going to be the most likely offenders.”
Johnson said that the moments immediately after violence are often the most critical for reaching youth.
“Some kids just need to be around something different to start seeing themselves differently,” he said. “A lot of these kids are vulnerable, and they're followers.”
Dixon agreed.
“The same mentality of being a follower that led to my destructive patterns, ultimately, that same mentality led to my change,” he said.
Rather than demanding young people change overnight, Dixon shares his own journey as an example.
“I just tell them what I’ve been through. I let them decide,” he said.
Back at Lowell Park, where it all began, Dixon reflected on what’s at stake.
“They're becoming more affiliated at a younger age… the influences are getting, you know, more destructive,” he said. “It hit once I brought my son into this world. And I knew that I had an opportunity to break that generational cycle.”
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