a veteran cleaning his garden, a teenager walking home from work and a supplier selling fruit in the middle of the afternoon are just some of the people killed in this year’s deadly shootings in Long Beach.
“I was walking everywhere all the time,” said resident Lucea Marquez. “But now I can’t feel safe.”
In the first five months of the year, Long Beach police said they have seen an increase in shootings and homicides. So far this year, there have been 137 shootings in the city, with 61 people injured. It is an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year. The number of murders has also risen: nine so far this year, four more than in 2023.
Some shootings take place in the middle of Long Beach neighborhoods and unfortunately leave their mark. A memorial to the 17-year-old sits along a sidewalk outside Briana Soto’s childhood home. She was shot and killed while walking home. The police have not found her killer.
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“Any time someone loses their life, I worry,” said Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish.
Hebeish attributed the increase in shootings and murders to gang violence.
“What we’re seeing now is that gangs are involved in more shootings than we’ve seen in the two previous years,” he said.
In May, the department launched a new High Crime Focus Team, whose sole role is to identify high-risk areas and people.
“The majority of the shootings are happening in our central area, which means the Western Division, Southern Division and North Long Beach,” Hebeish said. “Those are the areas where we want to deploy the resources we have at our disposal.”
However, this move comes at a time when the department is short of officers. Despite this, officers claim that 80% of murders result in an arrest.
“It’s not just about having a police officer on every corner,” Hebeish says. “While I would like to, it goes beyond law enforcement.”
The department also works with community groups such as gang intervention organizations. Hebeish believes that both enforcement and community support will help bring about change.
“We are committed to this entire city and doing what we can to keep everyone safe,” he said.
