A grieving mother, days away from burying her slain son, brought audience members to tears Wednesday night while making an emotional plea for public safety in Lompoc before a city commission.
As the sobbing mother of 15-year-old Erik Villa Vargas spoke while holding a large frame showing pictures of her baby-faced son, audience members and commissioners reacted to the emotional comments.
Vargas was fatally wounded in an alley Saturday night in a triple shooting. A woman and another teen male were also shot and are recovering from their injuries.
As of Wednesday night, police had arrested Raymond Ramon Vega, 25, of Lompoc on suspicion of killing Vargas, with two other suspects still being sought.
Vargas became the seventh homicide victim in Lompoc in 2019, prompting more than 120 people to show up at a quarterly meeting of the city’s Public Safety Commission, which voted to forward multiple recommendations for improvements to the City Council.
“I am the victim of crime,” the boy’s mother said while speaking through an interpreter. “My son is right now in a funeral home….I came here to ask for security for all of us, for our kids. My son is a victim of the gangs, those gangs that take away our children.”
“Please, I’m begging you for more security and more safety in our streets. I don’t know what else to tell you,” the sobbing mom said. “My heart is a wreck.”
At one point several men joined the group of women at the podium.
“It’s our community. We can’t let her stand up by herself,” Darrell Tullis said as audience members and commissioners stood up in solidarity while sounds of others crying could be heard in the room.
“Please listen to us. Our children need us,” she added. “That’s why I’m here today, so no more mothers have to feel this pain.”
With the largest crowd in recently memory filling the audience of the typically sparsely attended Public Safety Commission meeting, the panel took several actions.
The advisory commission’s recommendations included a request that the City Council purchase video surveillance cameras to put in the city, and create a voluntary registry of residents’ own security cameras in case of a crime.
Other recommendations sought city leadership for establishing a community watch program and having the Public Safety Commission meet more often.
The four commissioners — Frank Campo, Maria Aguiniga, Ed Braxton and Oscar Luna —voted in favor of the various recommendations. Commissioner Phillip Gallanders was absent.
Aguiniga said more video surveillance camera could serve as another tool to help law enforcement and make it more difficult for criminal to victimize people.
She added that the city cannot afford to wait until the Police Department fills empty positions.
“I think our town is in dire need of extra eyes and ears,” Aguiniga said. “I know money is an issue. I think the lives of people are important.”
Audience members supported the installation of video surveillance cameras.
“Let’s get them up. … Make it impossible for these people to come into our neighborhoods and victimize us,” resident Nicholas Gonzales said, adding that he didn’t want to say too much to take away from the mother’s statements.
“We need the cameras. We need registration, and we need it now,” he said, as the audience applauded.
Throughout the two-hour meeting, multiple people spoke out seeking solutions to end violence afflicting Lompoc.
“It’s not up to our Police Department to solve this problem. All they can do is try to solve the crime after it’s been committed,” Tullis said.
He called upon those in attendance to keep the issue at the forefront of the City Council by also attending those meetings.
“These kids that are committing these crimes, they need hope. The need something other than what they are doing. If we don’t offer them alternatives, they’re going to continue doing what they’re doing,” Tullis added.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.