SANTA MARIA, Calif.- A town hall meeting was held Thursday evening to address neighborhood issues including the recent string of high profile crimes. Some residents say the violence has become so bad they are scared to even walk out of their house at night.
"I walk around with a stunt gun when I walk my dog around night because that's how bad it's getting around here," says Gerald Garza, a Santa Maria resident.
Gerald Garza says he can't even leave his house without a weapon because he fears for his safety. Garza lives just a block away from where an officer involved shooting happened back in June on the corner of Bunny and Broadway.
"Crimes have gotten worse as the years go on," says Garza.
Employees who work on the north end of town says the area has been getting more dangerous for some time.
"You come to work in the morning expect to come and get some office work done and you come to find police tape up and police interviewing everyone because someone was killed that night or that afternoon," says Lynn Swenson, a nearby employee.
The city is now taking action by holding a town hall meeting to help end the violence.
"None of the crimes have any connectivity, in other words it's not any one gang it's not any one person and the suspects are all different and many are domestic," says Interim Police Chief Ralph Martin, Santa Maria Police Department.
Chief Martin says these crimes should not be a reflection on the community.
"This is an opportunity for us to here all from the residents and what their concerns are," says Martin.
Some residents say they don't think the violence will ever go away.
"We've got robberies going on we've got the whole thing is going down hill so that's why we come to these meetings and try to talk to these people and try to find out what's going on but we never get to the bottom of it," says Harry Johnson, a Santa Maria resident.
