FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Officials to Discuss Park Safety Moves

Mayor Laurann Cook plans to meet Thursday with the city’s police chief and a county supervisor to discuss safety measures at Mile Square Park after a Sept. 8 shooting that left one man dead and another wounded.

Although the mayor had invited concerned residents to attend, Assistant City Manager Ray Cromer said that the public will not be invited to this “working meeting,” but that the outcome will be presented at a future City Council meeting.

Resident Steve Carns echoed the sentiments of other neighbors when he told the council at its last meeting that he is bothered most by the possibility that Mile Square Park could become “a haven for undesirables.” The park is under the county’s jurisdiction.

His children and those of a neighbor were in the Carns’ yard when one of the men involved in the the Sept. 8 shooting jumped over a brick wall and into the neighbor’s yard. Minutes later, the fleeing man arrived at the Carns’ front door pleading for help.

Carns said that his children, ages 4 and 7, have not been able to sleep well since the incident and refuse to play in their back yard.

Marshal Neaves told the council that his wife was in their yard at the time of the shooting and saw the sparks of gunfire. He has since extracted a bullet from a wall and another from a tree in his yard.