Hernandez-Thorpe said he will ask to use city funds for mutual aid at the next council meeting on Oct. 8. One agency is interested in working with Antioch, he said, but he’s waiting until they can finalize negotiations before announcing it.
The mayor also said in a video announcement on Sunday that if the violence continues, he may escalate to instating a curfew in the neighborhood or asking the governor to call in the National Guard.
“Our efforts to combat gun violence have been kind of, you know, ‘We’ll get to it, we’ll get to it, we’ll get to it,’” Hernandez-Thorpe said. “This is what happens when we take too long to make things actionable.”
Both the mayor and City Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker — whose district includes the Sycamore community — said they wish more proactive measures were taken years ago to prevent the recent spike in shootings.
“There are a lot of community members who understand that policing is a necessary response that we need right now. But they’re saying, ‘Well, what about the long term?’” Torres-Walker said.
In addition to violence prevention programs and community engagement, she said one of the most important things in the aftermath is working with the families and children who are affected by the violence.
She also expressed concern that assigning too much overtime to police in the wake of these shootings could cause officers to get fatigued — and make mistakes.
“When a police officer makes a mistake, somebody loses their life,” she said. “We definitely need more sustainable solutions, and it can’t be all enforcement-based.”
