Working Against Gang Violence at Richmond High

By Nicholas Kusnetz

On a Friday afternoon, Gonzalo Rucobo walks the halls of Richmond High School, talking with students and keeping an eye out for trouble.  Rucobo, whose work brings him to both schools and San Quentin, is a gang intervention worker and the Northern California regional manager for the Amer-I-Can Program, a life-skills and development curriculum.

Richmond High is essentially divided in half: members of the Norteño gang, despite their name, stay on the south side of the building, while Sureños stay on the north, and mixing back and forth usually means trouble. But things are improving thanks in part to the work of Rucobo and his team, who first came to the school last year, said Dr. Orlando Ramos, the school’s principal.

“Our suspensions, our violent incidents, they went down 30 percent last year,”  Ramos said. “It was absolutely amazing. It was great work.”

County District Attorneys Announce Strike

Contra Costa County’s district attorneys voted overwhelmingly in favor of going on a one-day strike to protest poor pay on Thursday night. The prosecutors are expected to strike in early November, though no date was set in order to avoid facing an injunction by the county, according to Deputy District Attorney Mary Knox, who is also the secretary of the District Attorney’s Association.

The association, which is in negotiations with the county on a three-year contract, has argued that they receive some of the lowest salaries in the Bay Area despite having to deal with a high crime rate. Contra Costa had the third highest number of homicides in the area in 2005, according to the California Department of Justice.

“We will continue our efforts to make the public aware of this crisis in public safety,” Knox said.

Judge Finds Richmond Man Linked to Drug Ring at Preliminary Hearing

By Nicholas Kusnetz
Right before Earl Johnson, 37, was arrested last November, he had on his body about two ounces of cocaine salt, a gram of base, and an extended magazine of .45 caliber ammunition, which police saw him throw as he was being chased, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing. Johnson’s attorney, Colin Cooper, does not dispute these facts. At issue, though, is whether these items, especially the ammunition, connect Johnson to the cocaine base production and dealing operation at the safe house from which he ran as the police came that day.

In a preliminary hearing in Richmond on Wednesday, a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge decided that Johnson could stand trial in connection with the house and the operation, which was run by Johnson’s brothers Antione and Damien, among others. Johnson, who is charged with five drug and gun related felony counts, must now come before the court on Nov. 6 to enter a plea. Cooper said he plans to plead innocence.

“They’re punishing him for what was going on in that house, and it’s not his house,” Cooper said.

Panel Addresses Violence Prevention in Richmond, Finds Common Ground

Richmond Police Department’s Lt. Mark Gagan and community activist Tracy “Ptah” Mitchell talk about violence prevention.

By Anna McCarthy

Last July, Raequel Smith’s son, Colin Powell, 20, was shot and killed at South Third Street and Main in Richmond. Today, Smith joined a crowd of around 50 students, educators and community members at Contra Costa College to talk about why.

“People in this community are scared. They don’t trust the police, so even if they know who committed the crime, they don’t feel safe telling anyone,” said Smith.

Her son’s case is still under investigation.

Still, Smith understands that the high rates of violence in Richmond come from a host of issues that police can’t necessarily control.

Tent City Organizer in Custody for Sexual Abuse

By Anna McCarthy

San Jose Police took 61-year-old Richmond resident Robert O. Brown into custody this afternoon on charges of child molestation. Brown is a Tent City organizer at Kennedy Park in Richmond and a prominent community leader. Tent City is a nonprofit organization working to curb escalations of violence in Richmond.

Lt. Gagan of the Richmond police says that Brown is accused of continual sexual abuse of an underage child with an enhancement charge of being over 10 years older than the victim.

Brown turned himself in at the Richmond Police Department after the San Jose Police indicated that he was about to be charged. He is currently being held at the Santa Clara County Jail without bail.

Second Killing in as Many Days

By Nicholas Kusnetz 

A 24-year-old Richmond resident was shot dead in a parking lot at 5201 Creely Ave. Wednesday night. Police arrived on the scene after receiving a call of numerous shots fired at 7:46 p.m.

Police found the victim, Donte Taylor, lying on the ground with several females holding his body and screaming uncontrollably, according to the police report.

This was the second fatal shooting in two days in Richmond.

Witnesses reported seeing a grey Camaro drive from the scene with two men inside. Detectives are investigating the shooting but have not released any more details.

Girl Reports Harassment

By Nicholas Kusnetz 

A 16-year-old Richmond girl reported being harassed Wednesday by a man in a pickup who approached her at a bus stop and then followed the bus she boarded.

Police arrested Robert Roland, 50, of Novato, Calif., in connection with the case and are contacting other local departments to investigate similar incidents in the area.

Man Shot to Death in Richmond

By Anna McCarthy

A 40-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday night amid heavy rains and electrical blackouts, Richmond police reported Wednesday.

After responding to a call at 11:06 p.m., paramedics and firefighters discovered the victim on the floor inside of his garage, where he was pronounced dead.

Police identified the victim as Gregory Bernard Rixter and report that Rixter was alone seated on a bicycle in front of an open garage door at his triplex apartment unit on First Street at the time of the shooting.

Neighbors heard multiple shots fired, and police report that bullets from a fully automatic weapon struck walls and objects inside the garage.

No one else was injured in the incident.

Police were hampered by heavy rains and a power outage on scene. They had to wait for lighting trucks from the fire department to investigate the crime.

Police currently have no witnesses or suspects so far. Rixter is survived by a wife, daughter, and three sons.

Kennedy High Student Shot on Way to School

By Nicholas Kusnetz

RICHMOND — Shots rang out once again in central Richmond Monday morning, hitting a 15-year-old John F. Kennedy High School student as he walked with a friend to school.

The boy, who has no criminal record, was hit in the foot by shots fired from a moving van near the corner of 25th Street and Virginia Avenue, according to Lt. Mark Gagan of the Richmond Police Department.

The victim, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in stable condition.

“He’s fortunate,” Gagan said. “They shot him point blank.”

New Coordinators Strengthen Health Services for Richmond Teens

By Anna McCarthy

Starting this fall, Richmond high school students no longer have to go far from school grounds to look for health services. That’s because last spring the West Contra Costa School District agreed to hire six new health coordinators who are working together to improve—and in some cases initiate—health centers in all of the public high schools.

“The district decided that since they don’t have a lot of money to make health clinics for every public high school in West Contra Costa County, they should start with hiring a coordinator for each one of the schools to strengthen the existing services offered by the school, and also bring in new services to the schools,” said Debbie Espinoza, health service coordinator at De Anza High School.