SE Valley Times

Gilbert, Ariz. - Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg spoke with local media about teen violence investigations on Thursday, January 18, 2024. The briefing took place inside the Gilbert Police Department’s Emergency Operations Center.

Chief Soelberg provided an opening statement with information about the department’s investigation process and the complexities of the teen violence investigations. He also addressed concerns of the community and offered assurance that Gilbert remains one of the safest largest cities in the country.

Following his statement, local media asked questions of the chief and were invited to attend the first meeting of the Gilbert Town Council’s Subcommittee on Teen Violence.

Below is Chief Soelberg’s statement to the media. To view the livestream recording of the briefing, visit Gilbert’s YouTube channel. Updates about the Teen Violence Investigations can be found on our website. 

 

January 18, 2024

Thank you all for being here today. I know you’ve been anxious to hear from me regarding the teen violence investigations. Over the past several weeks, my focus – our focus at the police department – has been on supporting the tremendous investigative activities that have been occurring behind the scenes. These efforts are exactly what have led to recent arrests. But one of the biggest frustrations we have heard is that people want to hear directly from me. In the absence of hearing directly from me, inaccurate information has continued to proliferate.Gilbert is my home. I come to you not just as your police chief but as a father myself. Gilbert is the place where I, like many of you, chose to raise my family because of the sense of community and safety that makes Gilbert so special. These recent incidents of teen violence have instilled fear and brought forth more questions on how something like this could happen here in our Town.I want to start with this message to our community. This is one of the safest large cities in the country. And our neighboring communities also boast high levels of community safety. That’s what makes the recent acts of teen violence in the east valley even more shocking. The death of Preston Lord in Queen Creek is senseless and tragic and while the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office continues their review of the investigation, I want to assure you that any act of violence in Gilbert is not and will not be tolerated.Violent crime is on the rise across the country. Although overall crime is down in Gilbert, violent crime is up and that is reflected both in crime trends involving adults and our youth. In 2022 and 2023, Gilbert PD responded to 375,568 calls for service across our community. Of those calls for service, incidents of teen violence made up less than .07% of our total calls for service. Having said that, every call for service matters. We will continue to investigate reports of crimes, pursue justice for victims, and hold offenders accountable, teen or otherwise.As a parent, now, more than ever, we need to be connecting with our kids, we need to be talking with them, and we need to ensure they are making smart choices with their friends and their after-school activities. And if they fear for their safety, please report this immediately to authorities or to a trusted adult. If you haven’t already, when you get home tonight, talk with your kids. I know I am.I want to be clear that there are questions that I’m not going to be able to answer today, as they are part of active investigations. These cases involve violent assaults on our teens. We do not take them lightly. Through our investigations, we’ve also learned that not all ofthese attacks are random. Before Preston’s death, we had already made 13 arrests related to incidences of teen violence that occurred between February 2022 until his death. Since January 3rd, we’ve made 9 additional arrests, including one within the last 24 hours, thanks to the assistance of community members and the media. Over the past two years we have made 22 arrests related to teen violence. And there will be more.In order for these arrests to have been made, our detectives have to thoroughly review all evidence associated with the crime; conduct interviews with all of the individuals involved; obtain multiple search warrants, complete digital forensics examinations; and when necessary, submit evidence to the crime lab. In today’s world of social media, many of these tasks are made even more complex. Through our investigations, we know that many of these incidents were being recorded and shared privately and publicly on numerous social media platforms. Researching and verifying authenticity and accuracy of this information takes time, but we are committed to the process of doing this right, and we appreciate the public’s – and the media’s – continued assistance.Many have asked who are the “Gilbert Goons,” and how long we’ve known about them. As we have shared many times, in the handful of cases that were reported to our department over the past year, none of our interviews with victims or reports ever used the term “Gilbert Goons” or provided information that the attacks were perpetrated by any members identifying as a Gilbert Goon. While we weren’t initially aware of the term, we were actively addressing the violent incidents involving teens during that time.It is now becoming clear that some individuals may be associating themselves with the term Gilbert Goons and we now have an active investigation in collaboration with our law enforcement partners to determine if the “Gilbert Goons”, can be classified, under Arizona law, as a criminal street gang.It is also important – and I cannot stress this enough – for people who have knowledge of past incidents of violence or even potential future acts – to report this information to the authorities. We are thankful to the victims and families of the victims who have had the courage to step forward and report prior incidents of teen violence so that we can properly investigate those and support the successful prosecution of any offenders. The issues with teen violence, or any violence in our community, is not just an issue for the Police Department to resolve. These issues are complex, and it will take all of our combined efforts, working together to find solutions to end violence in our community. Later this afternoon the Town will take our next steps towards working to address this problem. Our Gilbert Town Council Subcommittee will be meeting at 3 pm in the Council Chambers. We are united with our community, and we are in this together.

Original source can be found here.