Dear Friend --

I wanted to take a moment this morning to write about the recent gun violence and safety in our community — especially given what happened over the weekend.

As you know, there was a horrific shooting on Saturday evening that left three people injured. Thankfully, Long Beach Police Officers swiftly attended to the victims until paramedics arrived and they arrested the suspects soon after the shooting was committed. We had already surged patrols across the city and are grateful to the officers who responded and saved lives.

Gun violence has been increasing across the country and our city over the last year during the pandemic. Gun seizures in Long Beach are up over 50% and gun sales across America are up over 60%. We are grateful that murders have not spiked this year compared to last. However, each life lost is tragic and we mourn with their families and friends. This is a serious challenge. 

Our community has come together to take on the health crisis of COVID-19. We also came together to get folks back to work and restart the local economy. Our next major challenge must be a safety recovery. As a community, we must come together to take on crime — but also to understand how important prevention, education, mental health, and public services are to neighborhood safety.

Over the next few days and weeks, we will have a clearer overview of crime stats for the last six months to compare them to last year. We look forward to sharing this data and including our next steps to address community safety.

Thank you,

Mayor Robert Garcia