Killings Do Not Prove CityWalk Unsafe : Investigation suggests that the recent double-slaying could have happened anywhere

Developments in the CityWalk double-murder investigation should silence the claims coming from some quarters that the killings prove the Universal City attraction is inherently dangerous.

Just after the killings, representatives of homeowner groups said the crimes pointed up the mall’s security problems--a view that coincided with their argument that MCA Inc.’s entertainment complex should not be allowed to proceed with expansion plans. Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said that in light of the crimes, “one certainly has to wonder about overall security at CityWalk and what might loom ahead with the expansion.”

However, the son of one of the victims in the Mother’s Day killings has been named as a suspect, and his girlfriend has been charged with murder. If investigators are right and these killings, like most, were committed by someone the victims knew, they justify no sweeping judgments about overall security on the street-like shopping mall.

The expansion deserves to rise or fall on its own merits. Of course, MCA quite possibly should be required to offer extensive mitigations in return for further burdening the streets of the East Valley. Approval should not be taken for granted, and security must be part of any discussion of an attraction drawing tens of thousands of people well into the evening. Some neighbors are also objecting to Universal Studios’ coming “Jurassic Park” attraction, which could increase traffic into the sprawling complex.

But it would be ludicrous to suggest that one crime should derail the project. If invulnerability to crime were the standard, nothing would get built. The victims and suspects could have been together anywhere. Murders have happened at Disneyland, on the well-to-do streets of Brentwood, and now at CityWalk. The real lesson is that, tragically, violence can happen anywhere.