*This article was published in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of EPA Today.*
Why are young lives still being lost due to violence in East Palo Alto? This is the question that Mayor Lisa YarbroughGauthier address-ed at the East Palo Alto City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 21.
It was not a question that anyone specifically asked, but it was a question that was implied in the mayor’s remarks and it is a question that always seems to linger after a shooting takes place in East Palo Alto.
During the meeting, Mayor Yarbrough-Gauthier expressed her deep concern and disappointment over the loss of young, city residents to violence. Her comments came after Chief Albert Pardini, East Palo Alto’s police chief, reported the homicide this past weekend of 27-year old Mark Jack, an East Palo Alto resident.
Jack was shot multiple times shortly after 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 18. He was found by East Palo Alto police officers, when they responded to 911 calls about a shooting at the Light Tree Apartments, located on East Bayshore Road. Jack was treated at the scene and rushed to a local hospital where he later died.
In commenting on Jack’s death, Mayor Yarbrough-Gauthier said, “Not only are we losing a resident, we don’t know what this young man’s potential was, but we’ll never know now…. A mother and a father will forever have to deal with a child that left before they did.”
The mayor continued, “All lives matter and if I could say anything to our young people, ‘Please stop the violence and stop killing each other.'”
The East Palo Alto Police Department is actively investigating Jack’s shooting and the department requests that anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information should call (650) 409- 6792 or (650) 853-8477. Anonymous tips can be texted to (650) 409-6792 or emailed to epatipnow.org
Elizabeth Real 