Public comes out to give Gilbert subcommittee thoughts on teen violence

By Tom Blodgett
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Members of victims’ families, local school boards and the community at large gave their input Jan. 31 at the latest Gilbert Town Council Subcommittee on Youth Violence. 

About 60 people attended the meeting at the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert with 17 people coming to the microphone to address the subcommittee members and other town staff, making the evening session out in the community far more successful than the inaugural meeting held the afternoon of Jan. 24 at Town Hall.

That meeting saw only a handful of people in attendance and only four people spoke. 

The subcommittee has made public input a priority, which led it, with council’s blessing, to try bringing it to the library, 775 N. Greenfield Road, at a time more convenient for people to attend. 

Among the speakers were family members of Jamiere Jenkins, who was killed in a shooting Nov. 28 in Pinal County, and Mark Jacobo, the father of 18-year-old Stephen Jacobo who was shot and killed in Mesa in November 2022. The family members paid tribute to their children. 

Audience members gave support for the Jenkins family members as they spoke about the loss of Jamiere, with one woman shouting out, “We’re here for you,” and another man, “We’ve got you, you’re doing good.” 

While some speakers were critical of police or other town leaders, Jacobo thanked Gilbert police for their quick action since more videos and tips have come in during the past month. Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg had reported 22 arrests related to group teen violence since going to the public for help in late December. 

“It kind of lit a fire under Mesa (police),” Jacobo said. 

Mesa police re-arrested a suspect in Stephen Jacobo’s death, Joe Rim, on Jan. 22. He had been released after a previous arrest after Maricopa County Attorney’s Office asked for more investigative information after his first arrest. Rim has been charged with second-degree murder in Stephen Jacobo’s death. 

Previously, Bill Conley strongly criticized Soelberg, saying his statement and how he delivered it to town council Jan. 22 showed he lacked empathy. He also was critical of council members, comparing it unfavorably to Chandler City Council. 

“There's been such an absence of leadership and in the vacuum of no leadership or no communication, starting with the chief and the mayor (Brigette Peterson), we've had to fill in the blanks,” Conley said. 

But that was the one instance of the evening where subcommittee members pushed back on comments. 

“I will say there's one thing that's probably wholly unfair, and I'm no fan of the mayor, but when the mayor and chief are accused of lacking empathy, they’re both parents,” Councilmember Jim Torgeson said. “And your anger is understandable, but don't discount the humanity of the people that you're looking at. That's totally unfair.” 

Conley then admitted to reacting emotionally and apologized to Soelberg and the subcommittee members, though the members and some in the audience said he had no need to. 

Other audience members spoke out about topics like the lack of community in Gilbert, the need for more parental involvement and trauma-informed training. 

One speaker, Heather Callis, even presented to subcommittee members a plan for dealing with teen violence with a budget and timeline for implementation. Callis said she had experience in dealing with teens and had worked with law enforcement in the United Kingdom, where she is from, on tackling gang problems. The plan, she said, represented how she would address the problem if tasked with it. 

School board members Chad Thompson from Gilbert Public Schools and Anna Van Hoek from Higley Unified School District also spoke up after several audience members emphasized the importance of school involvement. 

Both expressed caution about putting too much social emotional emphasis into schools when the onus should be on the parents. 

Vice Mayor Scott Anderson, the subcommittee chair, said the meetings have been called listening sessions, but he preferred thinking of them as working sessions to come up with actionable items to curb teen violence. 

Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni largely rounded up the inroads the subcommittee made on working with school districts on a teen survey, a bill outlawing the sale of brass knuckles to minors and other efforts.  

He called for more signatures on a petition supporting the brass-knuckles bill, which has 1,300 so far but which he noted is far short of a petition that objected to a Bottled Blonde bar coming to Gilbert’s Heritage District. 

The town’s volunteer and community resources manager, Melanie Dykstra, also gave an overview of several community resources available from nonprofit groups and pointed to the town’s website for more information on those. 

We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.  

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).