Antioch unnerved by shootings - pregnant woman dodges gunfire
ANTIOCH, Calif. - The city of Antioch has been rocked by a series of shootings, including one that left a pregnant woman dodging gunfire after a stray bullet entered her home.
Yanira Majano, a mother of two who is seven-months pregnant, pointed to where a bullet pierced through the wall of her home on L Street at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.
"La bala?" she asked, using the Spanish word for bullet. "Yeah, it's here," she said, pointing to where the silver round ended up lodged in her carpet.
She and her 2-year-old son were in another part of the home when gunfire broke out at a nearby RV Park near the Contra Costa Fairgrounds. The Contra Costa County sheriff's office says a man was shot and critically wounded during a dispute.
Majano said she's scared and feels unsafe in her home.
Albert Bucharelli, host of the RV park, said, "All of a sudden, somebody started shooting. The guy came out and went through the fence."
Bucharelli said someone involved in the shooting took off in a car that plowed through a locked chain-link fence.
"We’ve never had anything like this, never. I mean, this is the safest block right here. We’ve never had any problems," Bucharelli said.
Candice Martin works at the nearby Antioch Speedway and also heard the gunfire.
"I’m upset that people are behaving this way. I mean, this is not the way Antioch used to be. It seems like it’s getting crazier," Martin said.
The shooting would only be the first of several along the L Street corridor.
Later Monday night, evidence markers littered the street near L and Sycamore Drive after another shooting.
A nearby strip mall and the neighborhood surrounding it is where there have been numerous previous shootings in recent weeks, including one on Labor Day that left a man dead. Five days later, a woman was shot and wounded.
"We hear gunshots from Sycamore all the time. I mean, around here, that’s all you hear," Bucharelli said.
And even later on Monday night, there was yet another shooting at East 18th Street and Cavallo Road, where a victim was shot and critically wounded while attending a memorial for the Labor Day victim.
KTVU caught up with Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe on Tuesday as he rallied with workers on the second day of a strike at Georgia Pacific, the city’s largest manufacturing plant.
"I’m tired of people telling me, ‘Why there are shootings in Antioch?’ You want to know why? Because they don’t have work," said the mayor, flanked by workers holding signs saying they were on strike.
"This is the best crime-fighting prevention program any city can have. Having employed people making fair wages! That’s how you get it done," Hernandez-Thorpe said.
Antioch police said they've responded to nearly a dozen shootings in the past few weeks, including eight in the past five days alone. Some of the shootings appeared to be related, officials said. The department has rearranged staffing and assigned two officers to patrol the L Street and Sycamore corridors over the next week.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan
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