After recent crimes involving guns in north Concord, police and residents met Monday night to air their concerns and try to find solutions.
“We’re looking at probably about one shooting a week over the past month,” said Lt. Mark Robison with the Concord Police Department.
After opening remarks, Concord Police Chief Mark Bustillos fielded dozens of questions from the crowd of about 100 north Concord residents and most of the concerns centered on gun violence since the beginning of March.
The most significant incident was just two weeks ago at a shopping center on Solano Way. One person was killed and another was hurt.
But there were at least three more shootings in March and all of them may have involved automatic weapons.
Bustillos assured the crowd the shootings all involved people who knew each other and were not random. He applauded citizens for sharing security camera video and freely offering witness statements, which have led to arrests and an arrest warrant for murder.
“The most powerful tool is you guys, right? The power of you as collectively and as neighbors that talk to one and other can’t be understated,” Bustillos said.
He also warned there are a lot of guns on the streets. Maybe more than ever and most are untraceable ghost guns.
In one traffic stop three days ago, officers confiscated several guns and drugs including fentanyl.
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"We’re getting officers getting four or five guns a week, off the street. It’s incredible, just the volume,” said Bustillos.
Concord’s mayor and the city councilmember from north Concord said they’re impressed with the turnout and the fact that citizens and businesses are getting involved, sharing witness statements and registering private security cameras with the police department.
“Having those cameras registered makes it a lot easier for our police department detectives to do the follow up and catch the bad guys,” said Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister.
“What stood out for me was whenever the chief said there were community members, who actually put themselves at risk to gather information and share that with the police department,” said Concord city councilmember Carlyn Obringer.
They also said they’ll plan more gatherings across the city and are encouraging other neighborhoods to get involved in the community effort to fight crime.
