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Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait met with concerned residents on Tuesday. (KTLA-TV / July 31, 2012) |
ANAHEIM, Calif. (KTLA) -- Anaheim mayor Tom Tait visited with residents Tuesday, taking the opportunity to hear their concerns over a spate of police shootings and resulting protests.
Tait met with dozens of residents inside a small apartment, not far from where Anaheim police killed two young men recently.
As he left, some protesters yelled, "No justice, no peace!," but unlike at previous demonstrations, other protesters defended the mayor.
Some residents wore bright orange safety vests and offered to be Tait's bodyguards as he left the neighborhood -- a community torn now standing up for the man they hope will change things.
Mayor Tait did a lot of listening and a lot of hugging.
Resident Yesenia Rojas said she was encouraged by Tait's visit.
"I'm really glad because that way he can see the sad faces in this community," she said.
"The afraid faces that they fail to see and hear when the officers come to this neighborhood."
Tait refused to answer questions from KTLA, but City Councilmember Lorri Galloway was happy to talk.
"We came to them. We came to the heart of the community where all this began," Galloway explained.
She said that what she heard from the people who live on Anna Drive was very simple: "They were afraid of the police."
In the last two weeks, Anaheim police have killed two people.
On Saturday, July 21, they shot and killed 25-year-old Manuel Diaz, who they say was evading arrest.
Diaz, who police say was a documented gang member, was not armed.
A day later, Anaheim police fatally shot Joel Acevedo, 21, who authorities said had fired on officers during a foot chase.
A third officer-involved shooting -- in which police opened fire Friday on a burglary suspect, who was unhurt -- was the city's seventh such shooting this year, five of which have been fatal.
The city had four officer-involved shootings in all of 2011.
The shootings have prompted violent protests across the city and calls for change within the police department.
"Today we have a broken community," Galloway said after Tuesday's meeting. "Today we have healing that has to start now, and that's why we're here."
Tait met with dozens of residents inside a small apartment, not far from where Anaheim police killed two young men recently.
As he left, some protesters yelled, "No justice, no peace!," but unlike at previous demonstrations, other protesters defended the mayor.
Some residents wore bright orange safety vests and offered to be Tait's bodyguards as he left the neighborhood -- a community torn now standing up for the man they hope will change things.
Mayor Tait did a lot of listening and a lot of hugging.
Resident Yesenia Rojas said she was encouraged by Tait's visit.
"I'm really glad because that way he can see the sad faces in this community," she said.
"The afraid faces that they fail to see and hear when the officers come to this neighborhood."
Tait refused to answer questions from KTLA, but City Councilmember Lorri Galloway was happy to talk.
"We came to them. We came to the heart of the community where all this began," Galloway explained.
She said that what she heard from the people who live on Anna Drive was very simple: "They were afraid of the police."
In the last two weeks, Anaheim police have killed two people.
On Saturday, July 21, they shot and killed 25-year-old Manuel Diaz, who they say was evading arrest.
Diaz, who police say was a documented gang member, was not armed.
A day later, Anaheim police fatally shot Joel Acevedo, 21, who authorities said had fired on officers during a foot chase.
A third officer-involved shooting -- in which police opened fire Friday on a burglary suspect, who was unhurt -- was the city's seventh such shooting this year, five of which have been fatal.
The city had four officer-involved shootings in all of 2011.
The shootings have prompted violent protests across the city and calls for change within the police department.
"Today we have a broken community," Galloway said after Tuesday's meeting. "Today we have healing that has to start now, and that's why we're here."
