Safety
A budget that the Contra Costa Superior Court will consider adopting Friday would close six courtrooms, including the Juvenile Law Courtroom in Richmond. For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, more than $7 million is estimated to be cut from the county court’s budget.
The first time Javier Campos saw his sister Barbara Rojas’s new house—just a couple of weeks ago — he pulled up and said, “Oh this is perfect.” Perfect, for BBQs, for big family get-togethers, for the kids. In short, perfect for Campos’ favorite pastime—hanging out with the people he loved. Barbara said her brother had big plans for a Labor Day barbecue at her house. But just days before the party, on Sept. 1, he was shot and killed during…
In a game that will be remembered more for its significance as a memorial to a lost player than as a high stakes varsity football encounter, the El Cerrito Gauchos beat the Kennedy Eagles 64-8 in Richmond last night, challenging a team still reeling from the death of offensive lineman Ulises Grijalva, who was shot and killed near his home on August 5. “We tried to play in his honor, and this is not the outcome we wanted,” Kennedy Head…
Kennedy High football coach Mack Carminer walked slowly to the 50-yard line on Friday — minutes before the team’s first home game — to hold a brief ceremony in honor of “a fallen soldier.” Followed by members of the school administration Carminer carried the framed Eagles jersey of Ulises Grijalva, a player who was killed on August 5. Taking the microphone, Carminer bowed his head and called for a moment of silence. The sound of teenagers’ laughter and teasing that…
Five months after a jury cleared Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus of racial discrimination allegations, the case is now set to reappear in federal court in November. The plaintiffs — seven prominent African-American police officers — originally filed a suit in 2007 that alleged that Magnus discriminated by race when choosing officers for promotion. In April a jury cleared the chief, deputy chief and city of any wrongdoing. But immediately after the verdict, plaintiff’s attorney Stephan Jaffe said that his…
The number of homicides in Richmond this year rose to 14 on Saturday when a deadly shooting occurred in the Taco Bell parking lot on 23rd St. and Barrett Ave. Richmond Police spokeswoman, Detective Nicole Abetkov, said the victim was shot in the abdomen and died later at the hospital as a result of his injuries. The Contra Costa County Coroner’s office confirmed the identity of the victim as Javier Campos, 38, of Richmond.
“Homicides are down over 40% already,” said Richmond Police Captain Mark Gagan, cautioning that in the face of Campos’ murder just days earlier that statistic holds little comfort.
Two former Richmond Police Department officers were sentenced to probation and time in a halfway house and home detention respectively for illegally supplying minors with firearms. The judgment, delivered by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Tuesday, August 23, followed the conviction of Danny Harris, Jr. and Raymond Thomas, Jr. on charges filed in July 2011 that both men deliberately obstructed justice and tampered with evidence in the investigation of charges that Harris purchased firearms for two underage individuals while…
Contra Costa County officials are expected to vote tomorrow morning on how to spend a $19 million grant from the state to help deal with crowded county prisons. The funding follows the state’s decision last year to transfer responsibility for many non-violent offenders to local agencies. Members of the Contra Costa County Community Corrections Partnership have come up with several options for spending the money. Part of it, County Sheriff David Livingston and Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus agreed, should…
Jessie Phillips has lived in the same home from the time she was a little girl. If it wasn’t for her home, she says, she wouldn’t live in Richmond. “It’s just too hard,” she said. Just the sound of sirens sends her into a fit of tears. Each siren sound reminds her of the death of her son Anthony Robinson. Robinson was shot in his car following an altercation at a gas station in Richmond on July 18, 2004. His mother Jessie says her son and his friends were followed in his car to Albany, just off the Gilman exit. Shots were fired, and her son Anthony was hit in the head by one of the bullets. He spent four days on life support before he died. On his birthday each year, December 16, Phillips takes out a memorial in the West County Times in his memory. It’s something that gives her peace, she says. Jessie credits prayer, family and community support for keeping her going. She has two remaining children: Kenneth Robinson, 25, and Jessica Walker, 32. She regularly attends events hosted and organized by Charlene Harris of Healing Circles of Hope ( Mother’s Against Senseless Killing, MASK).