Parents Fired Up After Repeated Shootings Near School
LODI (CBS13) – Dozens of parents attended a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss a recent rash of gang-related shootings near an elementary school within the past month.
Heritage Elementary Principal Maria Cervantes called the meeting to seek solutions for the violence that has had parents and students on edge since the school year began.
A bullet hole is still visible in the tree near the walkway students use to travel to and from school each day, a reminder of the three violent incidents that have occurred within a block of the school, including one shooting that took place while kids were still on campus.
Many parents no longer allow their children to walk to school alone.
School officials hired a security guard to serve as a visible deterrent to any potential trouble makers, and police officers have stepped up patrols in the area. Two more detectives have also been assigned to the department's gang unit.
"They're here, it's just a matter of them laying low since we've been here," said security guard Jackie Ketcham. "Our presence has made them aware that the school has security here now."
Students are now taught to take cover under desks during lockdown drills.
"When you have a large concentration of children and parents and staff members near a school, that kind of intensifies the seriousness of the gang violence," said Lodi Police Sgt. Fernando Martinez.
