by Laura Bethold Monteros
About 75 people turned out for a community meeting at Robinson Park on Feb. 17 called by the Pasadena Police Department to address three recent non-fatal shootings in Pasadena and the murder of Brandon Jackson, the teenager killed in Altadena in a drive-by last Saturday night.
Pictured: Sheri Costley and Cyntha Brown
Jackson’s aunts, Sheri Costley and Cynthia Brown, spoke eloquently about their nephew and the losses in their family.
Jackson, a junior at John Muir High School, was shot on the 300 block of W. Palm St. on Feb. 12 at about 10:40 p.m. He had just left a party in the neighborhood when a car pulled up and called him over. He went, and someone in the car opened fire. Friends transported Jackson to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Pasadena Police Cmdr. John Perez, who led the meeting, Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez, and other PPD officers took the lion’s share of the time, but most of the questions were regarding the Jackson shooting. At one point, a man named Carlos asked, “Can we hear from the Altadena Sheriff’s Department?”
PIctured: Pasadena Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez
Perhaps the most arresting moment of the meeting was when a woman stood up and said, “My name is Cynthia Brown, and Brandon was my nephew.” Brandon had been on his way to her house when he was shot.
“Every day, Brandon would get up and say, ‘Good morning, God,’” Brown said. She told of his being promoted from middle school with a 4.0 average, and how his life became a constant struggle since his mother passed away in 2007. “He was still struggling with that, among other issues,” she said.
Brown addressed Muir principal Sheryl Orange’s comments in the Pasadena Star-News on Thursday, in which Orange said Jackson “had so much turmoil on the inside” and that he was trying to decide whether or not to join a gang. In the article, Orange also affirmed that Jackson was turning his life around and raising his grades.
Brown said she has “no problem” with the comments and that Orange had been helping her nephew. “Thank God she did reach out and listen to him,” Brown said.
Following Brown’s remarks, Sheri Costley, another of Jackson’s aunts, spoke of the courage and dedication of her niece, Jackson’s elder sister. At age of 21, the Jackson’s sister went to court to gain legal guardianship of her four younger brothers, and raised them in addition to her own child. One of those boys, Calvin, is in his second year at Morehouse College.
Pictured: Pasadena PD Commander John Perez and Sherriff Lt. Joseph Dempsey
“She hasn’t gotten over the demise of her mom, and now she’s dealing with this,” Costley said. “Now, at 25, she began to pursue her own education.” She is finishing her last semester at Pasadena City College and will go to a four-year school. “These kids were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth,” she said. Everything they had, they had to work for.
“We were sitting on the porch last Saturday,” Costley related. “Brandon was on the phone. He said, ‘I gotta make a decision, the days are getting short.’” She referred to the apostle Paul, who said in Philippians that he didn’t know if he wanted to stay or go. “I think Brandon knew his life was short. I think Brandon knew it was time,” she said.
As to the shooting itself, Costley said, “Brandon—my sister’s kids never met a stranger.” She had often remarked to them about how they would “pick up strays.” “That night, when Brandon was on his way home, someone called him to the car.” It was like him to be friendly, she said, but “little did he know….”
After thanking the Altadena Sheriff’s station and the Pasadena Police Department, Costley directly addressed the question many of the attendees brought up as well.
“When I heard about the meeting, I was very upset. If there was a meeting about my nephew—Altadena has a park, Loma Alta Park—it should have been there. If there was to be a meeting, my family should have been notified. Nevertheless, I’m grateful.”
Costley also expressed anger at the PPD’s response on the night of the shooting. “I heard the helicopter. I thought, it sounds like it’s at my mother’s house. I turned the corner from Lincoln onto Palm and was blown away by the police presence, especially the Pasadena Police.
“Every patrol officer on duty had to have been on Palm. They said they were there because they wanted to search the backyard for a gun. Chief, your people had no business on Palm. The sheriff was there.
“Every time a youth loses their life, every time you want to get together and talk. Why not have a preventative meeting with Altadena and Pasadena?”
Other than the usual pleas for calm and to urge witnesses to come forward, two issues that recurred in the question-and-answer period were the lack of notification about the Jackson shooting and concerns that the meeting was held in Pasadena rather than Altadena.
Sanchez said that the first mass communication about the four shootings went out for this meeting, but a reverse 911 was “something we should consider” and that it’s at the option of the police department. Altadena Det. Lt. Joseph Dempsey said that the Los Angeles County Sheriff uses Nixle, an email and text-based notification system. Citizens must sign up to receive Nixle notifications.
Dempsey and Sanchez assured the crowd that the PPD and sheriffs are working closely to solve the murder of Jackson. Sanchez has spoken with Capt. Steven McLean of the Altadena Sheriff’s Station and they are using some of the same strategies in the investigation. They are also collaborating on community involvement and witness protection. People who witness crime in Pasadena can call the We Tip Hotline at (800) 782-7463 and Altadenans can call Crimestoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
After the meeting, this reporter asked Dempsey why a Nixle notice did not go out. He said there would be a review to look into why this didn’t happen.
He said that the Altadena Station views Nixle as being used for emergency situations such as floods and fire. “Our philosophy is that we don’t want to spam people, but a murder and shooting is something we need to review. In hindsight, the [notice of the murder] should have gone out.”
Dempsey also told this reporter that he had spoken with the family regarding why they were not included in planning Thursday’s meeting. He said, “This meeting was put on by the Pasadena Police Department,” and indicated that the sheriffs had very little notice of the meeting themselves.
“We wouldn’t have one so soon,” he said, because there is still information regarding the murder that they cannot give out yet. They are still waiting for results from the homicide division as well. He said there would be a meeting once information is released, and it would be done with the family.
