Mother demands answers after son is among victims in series of shootings in 24 hours in Lancaster

ByMónica De Anda KABC logo
Friday, June 28, 2024 2:22AM
Mom demands answers after son is among victims of Lancaster shootings
A mother spoke out and demanded answers after she said her son was among several people shot during a spate of violence at separate locations in Lancaster.

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A mother spoke out early Thursday after she said her son was among seven people wounded during a spate of shootings that left four people dead at separate locations in Lancaster.

"I don't know what his condition is at all," Sharon Jones told reporters outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lancaster station. "And it's not fair."

Jones said she just wanted answers "and nobody's giving me nothing. Nobody came out, talked, said anything. It's very frustrating. My pressure probably up."

"Somebody need to come out here and speak to me and stop playing with me. I'm not no kid, I'm 50 years old. I want to know about my son," she said. "Point blank -- that's it. That's all."

The spate of shootings in Lancaster over two days left four people dead and several others wounded, prompting the city's mayor to issue a plea for more public-safety help.

A spate of shootings in Lancaster over two days has left four people dead and the city's mayor begging for more public-safety help.

On Wednesday, two men were fatally shot in the Antelope Valley city just before 6 p.m. in the 800 block of E Avenue J-12, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The two men transported to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Several other people were also injured.

Jones said she received a phone call informing her that her son had been shot.

"I went under the tape, I looked, I seen his clothes that was cut off -- I knew that was my son," she said.

Authorities said the shooting was gang-related.

The night before, three separate shootings left two people dead and at least one injured.

The Lancaster shootings happened in a span of two hours and within a few miles, and authorities were trying to determine if they're related.

Investigators were looking into whether any of the four separate shootings, less than 24 hours apart, were related.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said his city feels overwhelmed and under-resourced.

He publicly asked the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to provide more law enforcement resources from the Sheriff's Department.

"We're running at 50% of the number of deputies that we need," Parris told Eyewitness News. "They knew this was going to happen. They knew it was building. For whatever reason the county will not give us enough officers to protect this community, even though we pay for it."