Violent attacks by dangerous homeless transients are becoming the “new normal” in Sacramento. So are murders.
Another downtown shooting occurred Saturday night in front of several popular restaurants and bars on the 2700 block of J Street. This shooting was the same night as Sacramento’s annual Farm to Fork event, outdoors on the downtown Tower Bridge.
Homicide Investigation: SPD is on scene of a shooting near the intersection of 28th St and J St. One individual is deceased. Please use alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/sQHoOeRFm7
— Sacramento Police Department (@SacPolice) September 25, 2022
Last week a friend reported to the Globe that one of his friends was attacked at a downtown Shell gas station when a deranged drug addict attempted to rob the station. Two women clerks were cornered. His friend used a taser on the transient, but the transient used a belt to strike him in the side of the head, splitting it open. The transient was arrested.
Six people were killed and 10 were wounded in what was initially called a “mass shooting” in downtown Sacramento in April, turning several blocks of the Capitol city into a massive crime scene, the Globe reported. It was later revealed that it was a gang-on-gang shooting.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s reaction was to blame guns. “Rising gun violence is the scourge of our city, state and nation, and I support all actions to reduce it,” he said on Twitter.
If the driver of a Chevy Suburban ran down these 16 people, the media would report “SUV kills 6, injures 10.” Would Mayor Steinberg blame SUV violence?
Governor Gavin Newsom wasn’t any better: “Sadly, we once again mourn the lives lost and for those injured in yet another horrendous act of gun violence. Jennifer and I send our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and to the wider community impacted by this terrible tragedy.”
The guns didn’t shoot 16 people, the perpetrators did.
The Globe has been reporting that California’s alarming cocktail of criminal justice “reforms” are responsible for the state’s ongoing crime wave. And the politicians ignore that they are responsible for these phony “reforms.” They are far from reforms and are instead unraveling California’s criminal justice laws, passed to keep the citizenry safe from criminals.
The city of Sacramento saw significant increases in 2021 over 2020 in murder, rape, assault, and gun-related crimes compared to previous years, according to the Sacramento Police Department.
Sacramento had 58 homicides in 2021 – a 31% increase over the 44 homicides in 2020, the Globe reported in June.
By the end of August 2022, SacPD reports there have been 480 shooting reports, 119 victims shot, and 959 firearms seized.
However, SacPD only reports the murder totals through April 2022. They report 22 murders through April, 87 rapes, and 388 robberies. What about May, June, July and August 2022?
“On July 4, one person was killed and four were injured after shots rang out in front of the Mix Downtown nightclub at 16th and L streets,” The Sacramento Bee reported.
In July the Globe reported following deadly July 4th Weekend, California Democrats were pushing bill to reduce penalties for heinous murderers. “On the heels of a deadly July 4th weekend in Los Angeles city and county where 16 people were killed, and in Oakland where there were seven shootings, two deaths and a huge sideshow described as ’12 hours of nonstop chaos’ by the Oakland police Chief, Legislative Democrats brought a bill out of the inactive file that reduces penalties for criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes.”
The Globe also reported that 11 California cities made the 100 most dangerous cities in the country list for 2021, and listed the most dangerous/violent cities in the state based on FBI data.
Violent homeless transients
Last Thursday shortly just after school started, parents from Sacramento Sutter Middle School in East Sacramento (within city boundaries) received voicemail and email messages from the principal telling them a homeless transient was at the school yelling and screaming sexual comments at the students.
KCRA reported:
According to Sacramento Police Department, responding officers safely detained the suspect and conducted a preliminary investigation after being called for help.
Based on the investigation, officers arrested the suspect, 22-year-old Jehu Kwahshean Dorsey-Oliver, for a violation of California Penal Code Section 647.6(A)(1) (Annoy or molest a child under the age of 18 years old) and booked him at the Sacramento County Main Jail.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg couldn’t be bothered to comment.
“KCRA 3 reached out to Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office for an interview regarding the incident near Sutter Middle School.”
The mayor wasn’t available, however, his chief of staff, Mary Lynne Vellinga, sent us a statement that reads:
“The level of unsheltered homelessness in our city is unacceptable both for the unhoused and for our neighborhoods. The City of Sacramento now operates 1,100 beds and safe spaces each night, and a new ordinance requiring sidewalks to be kept clear takes effect later this month. We are working with Sacramento County to deploy the substance abuse and mental health resources only they can provide. Criminal acts should be reported to law enforcement regardless of a person’s housing status.”
“Are we waiting for children to be assaulted or kidnapped?” a parent asked.
Indeed. Many citizens are asking what it is going to take for the elected Mayor and elected city council members to do something to put a stop to the homeless attacks on citizens, as well as beefing up the Sacramento Police Department with more officers. Sac PD is down 200 police officers. Defunding the police isn’t going to end well.
1,100 beds and safe spaces is just 10% of Sacramento’s 11,000 homeless transients. And yes, it is unacceptable, as is the hollow statement by the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.
Whether accurate or not, Mayor Steinberg’s ambivalence appears apathetic and even callous. He is not at risk. He does not live in a dangerous neighborhood. He is insulated from exposure to homeless transients.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg was elected to run the city, and a primary function of that is public safety. His city, since his 2016 election, has only become measurably more unsafe.
How many murders in Sacramento is enough before elected officials act? How many children assaulted is enough? How many business owners accosted by violent homeless transients is enough? How many parks destroyed is enough? How many filthy homeless camps on sidewalks is enough?
How can politicians see this every day and shrug it off, or worse, insist they are doing everything in their power to address it?
The California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have been pushing more gun control laws, releasing prison inmates “for good behavior” and not for fulfilling the terms of their sentences, and closing prisons. These people end up on the streets.
Mayor Steinberg imprudently pursues “housing first” homeless policies rather than putting the funding into a large campus where homeless can be taken to fulfill the “bed” requirement for rousting their illegal camps, triaged and treated. The City and County of Sacramento could fund one facility and make a difference in how the homeless transients are handled.
Spiking crime and a growing homeless transient population is government-created through wrongheaded policies and laws. But it is not insurmountable. It takes elected officials who recognize that what they have done up to this point is futile and cruel, to make the changes.
Read more about the “criminal justice reforms” which have undermined law and order, and public safety in California here.
