Surveillance cameras for LA park approved in wake of special needs teen's shooting death
LOS ANGELES - Several surveillance cameras will be installed in the South Los Angeles where a special needs teenager was gunned down earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously decided on Friday...
NBC Los Angeles – Several surveillance cameras will be installed in the South Los Angeles where a special needs teenager was gunned down earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously decided on Friday.
The move to instate five cameras at Jackie Tatum/Harvard Park Recreation Center came during the same session in which the council voted to approve a $50,000 reward for information in Patrick Caruthers’ fatal shooting.
“It was a very cowardly move,” said Gail Sears, Caruthers’ mother. “The person who did it and they need to be brought to justice.”
Related: Special needs man shot and killed while sitting on park bench in LA
The 19 year old was sitting on a park bench listening to music on Tuesday afternoon when he was fatally shot in the torso.
Investigators say the shooter walked up to Caruthers, opened fire then ran to a waiting vehicle and fled the scene, located in the 1500 block of West 62nd Street
The suspect fled in a dark-colored compact car, but authorities did not have a description of the shooter, who police say has gang ties. Caruthers did not have gang ties, friends told NBC4.
Residents have long demanded that surveillance cameras be put in the park as part of the city’s effort to curb gun violence and make the area more family friendly.
So far, some $8 million in improvements have been pumped into the park, including a swimming pool, skate park and refurbished playing fields. But the move to install security cameras kept getting held up in committee.
Councilman Bernard Parks has been pushing the council to approve the cameras’ installation for some eight months, and admits Caruthers’ death spurred the city’s action Thursday.
The cameras are “bulletproof. These are tamper proof,” Parks said. Installation will likely take a couple months.
Surveillance cameras are a deterrence that has made another Los Angeles green space, Macarthur Park, safer, officials said.
The elderly who hang out at Macarthur Park said cameras have lowered crime dramatically. Employees at nearby Langer’s Deli agree.
“Word gets out in the neighborhood,” said Trisha Langer. “People in the neighborhood, I think, they tend to stay away.”
Earlier this week, Sears told a crowd gathered at the rec center to remember the popular teen that if her son’s death could prevent another tragedy, then his purpose in life was fulfilled.
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