Hollywood’s most treasured tourist spot is apparently turning into a crime zone. On Monday morning, according to police, two men were stabbed by a group of other men outside Leila’s Pizza and Deli near Hollywood Boulevard and Highland, one of the highest-traffic spots on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Both the victims and the perpetrators were Hispanics, according to LAPD Lt. Ray Valois. “Some type of argument ensued, and as a result, two of them got stabbed.” The suspects fled, and are still on the loose.
Meanwhile, at a night club on Ivar Avenue and Yucca Street, three men were shot. Valois explained, “Apparently there was a group inside the club that got into some type of an argument and a fight. It spilled outside of the club. There were shots fired.” The suspects fled, and are still at large.
Outside the Best Western on Highland Avenue, another person was stabbed early on Monday morning.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame area has seen multiple instances of violence in the past several weeks. On June 18, Dustin James Kinnear, a panhandler with a rap sheet of 46 prior arrests in eight years, stabbed Christine Calderon, 23, to death after she took a picture of the homeless man with her cellphone, then didn’t give him a dollar. Two other homeless men held Calderon’s co-worker against a wall as the stabbing ensued.
On July 16, a flash mob took to Hollywood Boulevard to scramble through the streets, ran in and out of traffic, knocked people over on the sidewalks, stole their belongings, and looted stores. 12 people were eventually arrested on suspicion of robbery. The flash mob reportedly formed in response to the George Zimmerman verdict in the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has already called for more police in the wake of violent incidents. “We’re going to make sure there are police resources there, not just in the coming weeks, but for a longer period of time to reassure both locals and visitors,” Garcetti said in June.
California has seen a spike in crime thanks in part due to Governor Jerry Brown’s failed prison realignment program, which has released criminals from prison thanks to overcrowding issues.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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