HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A Tamuning neighborhood is fed up with the growing violence that is happening at all hours of the day.
The most recent incident was reported Friday last week at the four-way intersection of Tun Teodoro Dungca Street and Encancia Street.
Cellphone video captured a large group of people including women and children at the intersection with several of them using slingshots to shoot rocks and one person holding a large stick who was apparently attacking others in the area.
Guam police were on scene and had taken a few of the women into custody. But, as of Wednesday night authorities had yet to confirm if any were charged in connection to the incident.
“It’s worse now,” said Jonte De Leon, who has been living in the neighborhood with her family for years.
She said the latest violent incident happened a house away from her daughter’s bus stop. De Leon said she is worried, as the students are now back in school.
“I can’t even trust that she can get to the bus stop safely,” she said. “A lot of times…they are just the only ones who are there, that sit in the bus stop throughout the night drinking. Sometimes they are passed out until the morning. Residents are getting so sick and tired of all these things.”
She adds that the students’ bus stops end up smelling like alcohol, urine, and vomit.
“What a way for the kids to start the day. It resorts to parents sitting in the car with the kids. Yes, our kids are our responsibility but why do we have to go through that just because others cannot be good citizens. There needs to be stricter reinforcement. There needs to be some way for us to protect ourselves.”
Aside from the riots, De Leon said her daughter’s parked car had been recently damaged in the same area.
“It’s scary,” said Tamuning Mayor Louise Rivera. “It’s just terrible. Crime is on the rise, big time.”
Rivera told The Guam Daily Post that one of her staff members even reported that her residence had been ransacked just this week.
She said she is confident that it is the same groups that have been causing trouble for long enough.
“We’ve been having different issues with them. There are residents who are afraid to pass that way,” she said. “We’ve been reaching out to different groups like their leaders and pastors to find out how to reach these families and make sure these individuals understand how to respect other people’s property, and to respect one another, and not do terrible things.”
Rivera said they’ve also had issues with people walking around the neighborhood trying to open car doors, and others trespassing onto private compounds to swim in their pools.
The mayor said she will meet with the administration in hopes to stop the violence, and enhance the response time from police.
