A Kern Crime Wave

There’s a new trend in Bakersfield, and since I HATE to be trendy I really don’t want to be a part of it. The “trend” is stealing the wheels off of Hondas. Not just the rims – the entire wheel! In the past six months twenty different people walked outside to get in the car and found it sitting on blocks. That would suck. I have a Honda and now I’m paranoid about leaving it outside.

One of the people who had his wheels stolen said it was the BPD’s fault the thieves are getting away with the wheels because they were not aggressive enough about the problem. Lt. Haskings responded to the accusation by saying there just aren’t enough cops to go around and that they need to save them so they can, “respond quicker to things like shootings.” True enough, there were two shootings yesterday alone.

One of the shootings happened yesterday morning near Watts Drive. A friend of mine is a news cameraman and he was called out to shoot footage. Two guys were found shot around 10:30 in the morning. As my friend rolled film he over heard some in the crowd that had gathered comment on one of the people shot. “That was Critter,” he said, “He’s that bug eyed motherf***er whoze always shooting his mouth off.”

The other shooting occurred at the Day & Night Market on Chester Ave. A market I just happen to pass ALL the time. Somewhere around 8:30 p.m. Carl Hawkins Jr. was shot and killed while pumping gas. The store clerk, A.J. Whitfield, was also shot but he was not badly hurt. Witnesses say they saw a car speeding away from the scene. Getting gas is starting to sound dangerous around here. I think I’ll take the bus.

As awful as all this is it can’t compare with what happened in Shafter Monday night. Jorge Silva Zamora stabbed his wife to death – in front of their children – then turned the knife and STABBED HIMSELF TO DEATH. Oh. My. God. How does someone stab them self to death? That’s crazy! The police had been to the home before on domestic abuse charges and his wife had a restraining order against him. Apparently that didn’t stop him.

I can’t think of a better way to screw up your kids for life. Nice work Jorge.