BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The City of Bakersfield has been working with the Bakersfield Police Department on a gun violence reduction strategy. The strategy was implemented last year, but gun violence continues to be a concern in the community, impacting not just the victims, but their families and loved ones as well.
"My brother was very well known," said Jessica Bejarano. Her brother, Fernando Bustamante, was shot to death last year. "He was very respected. For something like that to happen to him - he was being robbed. He didn't go out looking for trouble. It just kind of happened."
Bejarano says the tragedy haunts her family to this day. She believes the issue of gun violence in our community is not necessarily targeted at a specific group of people, and she says weapons are far too accessible.
"The gun issue is a big issue. If they can stop that both legally and illegally, that'd be great. There would be less lives taken," said Bejarano. "Because it's hard. I'm not saying that because of my brother, my friend, got shot. He was young. They get younger and younger every year."
According to city records, in 2020 there were a total of 44 homicides in Bakersfield. In 2021, that number jumped to 60, and last year, after the gun violence reduction strategy was implemented, the total number was 38.
City Manager Christian Clegg says some of the components of the strategy include community partnership-based approaches, intervention strategies, and support for victims.
"There are things that the city can't do as well as many of our community partners, so we employ community-based organizations as trusted messengers to go out into the community and make contact with individuals who are at very high risk of gun violence, and try to talk to them and offer them different solutions," said Clegg. "Offer them roads and pathways out of lifestyles of violence."
The city says the strategy is funded by the California Violence Intervention Program and is supplemented by resources from the Public Safety and Vital Services Measure, which allows the city and community leaders to analyze the dynamics of violence.
Even considering the city's efforts, Bejarano believes more still needs to be done to keep guns out of improper hands.
"That's the part that they really need to take care of, that part. Because it's not the guns that are killing people, it's us. It's the people. They come across it, they want it, they can go get it," said Bejarano. "That's my opinion."
