SE Valley Times

"Thank you to everyone who took the time to be here tonight. We are a great community in large part because of our engaged and caring residents so again, thank you for making time to be here this evening and make your voice heard. 

I would like to start off by providing you with an update on our investigations on incidents of teen violence. 

While Queen Creek Police Department’s investigation into who is responsible for the death of Preston Lord is in the hands of the Maricopa County Attorney’s office, we continue to work on Gilbert’s investigations. We are combing through every detail of our past assault cases and arrests involving youth to determine if there are any connections or correlations and what are the relationships, if any, between those involved. As most already know, the information we can provide is limited so as to not jeopardize or undermine any ongoing investigations. 

Yesterday we shared an update that we had eight active investigations. As of today, there are now nine active investigations related to teen violence; four reopened investigations and five previously unreported to the department. The most recent report is an assault which occurred in November 2022. While it is frustrating that this incident was not reported to the police prior, this is an example of what we need from our community, and we are thankful for the victim who had the courage to report this delayed assault. 

As I have said before, we initially did not have any reports that mentioned “Gilbert Goons” but recently victims have been using that term. Yesterday, we announced that we have been working with, and will continue to work with, the state Gang Task Force, the Mesa, Queen Creek and Chandler Police Departments and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office to thoroughly investigate any individuals self-proclaiming or affiliated by others as being associated with the term “Gilbert Goons.” 

We continue to encourage anyone with information related to prior incidents of teen violence to please report it by calling our non-emergency number, 480-503-6500, through our online tip site, or through the appropriate police jurisdiction of where the incident occurred. And as always, if anyone in our community witnesses violent or harmful behavior in the moment, we ask you to please immediately call 911. 

School district incident reporting channels:

• Gilbert Public Schools: www.gilbertschools.net/tip
• Chandler Unified School Districts: Speak Up for Safety speakup@gse.cusd80.com (480) 573-8808
• Higley Unified School District: (480) 279-SAFE or email SAFE.hotline@husd.org

I know our department is thankful that the community has come together to support seeking justice for Preston Lord and any other victims. It can be frustrating waiting for additional information and charging decisions. It may seem at times as if action isn’t being taken but I can assure you that everyone here is working hard to ensure that anyone who has committed a crime in Gilbert is held accountable and we will continue to support the Queen Creek Police Department's investigation into the death of Preston Lord." 

 For more information, visit gilbertaz.gov/TeenInvestigations 

Original source can be foundhere.