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Santa Clarita Teen Gun Incident

Conduct Of Santa Clarita Deputies Under Investigation After Drawing Guns At Teens

An investigation into the conduct of the responding Santa Clarita deputies is now underway after drawing guns at teens Friday evening, according to Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth.

The City of Santa Clarita is aware of the incident which took place this past Friday involving Santa Clarita Sheriff’s deputies detaining two people at gunpoint, and “we are very concerned,” said Smyth in a statement.

“We have spoken to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and we are aware that a full investigation is underway regarding the level of response by the deputies,” Smyth said. “We have asked that the review be expedited and any necessary actions be taken. In addition, we have asked that the deputy be removed from the field pending the outcome of the investigation.”

The incident occurred Friday evening on Soledad Canyon Road near Whites Canyon Road when deputies responded to the report of an assault with a deadly weapon.

“I’ve seen the recent video involving the Santa Clarita incident, which has gone viral, and I have concerns regarding the tactics employed. A call for service was received regarding a felony assault and the deputies detained those allegedly to be involved. The matter is currently being investigated,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva in a video statement.

Tammi Collins, the mother of one of the teens detained, said her son was sitting at a bus stop in Santa Clarita with friends when a man who appeared to be homeless approached the teen.

“He was attacked by a gentleman, homeless guy, who approached them and first asked them if they had any crack then tried to take their things,” Collins said on social media.

After making contact the man allegedly became aggressive and attempted to stab the teen, the mother said.

“The guy became so aggressive that he took his shirt off pulled out a knife and whip them tried to stab them,” she wrote.

The teen and his friends “only had their skateboards to cover them from the knife and whip so they held it out to keep a distance from this guy,” Collins said.

Several bystanders contacted law enforcement claiming the teens were attacking the man, prompting an assault with a deadly weapon call from law enforcement, according to the watch commander of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Upon investigation, it was determined no crime had occurred, according to Sheriff’s officials.

“This is something my son and his friends will never forget,” Collins said. “I’m still wondering how will I ever help my son recover from this traumatic experience.”


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Conduct Of Santa Clarita Deputies Under Investigation After Drawing Guns At Teens

60 comments

  1. We deserve better quality policing. At least the victims, the teens, were not physically harmed by these over-reacting deputies. This is a mild example of what the BLM is trying to point out.

    • The cops were responding to ::squints eyes::… a felonious assault with deadly weapons.. oh so even cops responding to that is an issue.. what other way is there to in interfere with that? A rainbow LGBTQ flag and a black power fist raise in a communist symbol? Bug off with your lazy comparisons and mental inabilities.. you want no police move to Chicago or la proper. We like law and order in Santa Clarita regardless of how imperfect it is at times. Better than YOUR alternative.

      • Law and order is coming guns drawn on children? Law and order is the citizens who called the police screaming at them that they have the wrong people(watch the video) while they ignore them and continue to point their weapons ready to fire on children? Doesnt sound like the america people died for bud

        • Ridiculous. You expect the police to immediately believe anyone who shouts “You’ve got the wrong person.” Criminals would never do that. Nooooo…

          • Wait, so you are claiming that somehow the BYSTANDERS were criminal? Because it was the BYSTANDERS, not the boys, telling the cops that the ACTUAL attacker was getting away and the BOYS were the victims.

            You literally have the woman who called the cops standing there saying: those boys are the victims. The guy with the knife went THAT WAY. And the sheriffs don’t send even ONE officer to try to find the guy.

            The bystanders are literally the ONLY people who should be believed in this situation. THEY are the ones who will testify in court because THEY are the ones who witnessed the actual crime.

            SMDH

          • It was not “just anyone” it was the restaurant manager in the restaurant’s uniform (so you know she is legit) who identified herself and told them that she was the manager and she had called them. She told them that the boys were the victims of the attack yet they continued to have guns ready to shoot them and proceeded to handcuff them while the attacker got away. So yeah, we expect them to listen to a credible witness of the events and stop being racist.

      • Same type over-reaction demonstrated by the Sheriff.

    • You are such a Puto! Black LIES Don’t Matter

    • I stand with the police how the hell are they supposed to read everybody’s minds of who is doing what, Your BLM nirvana world only exists in your fantasies, welcome to reality,I rather have law & order then a BLM Marxist control, get a life friend1

      • You racist piece of ****!! Yes you. Those police did not have to come out guns up like they did. Wonder how I know? Because I’m one. Now what you really meant was you rather have your clan brothers protect you. Do us a favor Hughe and pull that white hood off and show us your face chicken ****

        • This is NOT ABOUT RACE! If the teens were green,orange and yellow, the cops would’ve responded in the same exact manner. This whole thing was obviously a setup! There ain’t no “homeless crack addict going around attacking, robbing and assaulting innocent victims either! How stupid would a person be to even attempt to ” attack” or rob 3 healthy, strong. Young men carrying skateboards…give me a break!

          Sorry, the city is NOT going to throw buckets of money at you and make you rich for being questioned and detained, happens everyday, everywhere to innocent people. That’s how crimes are prevented/stopped. It’s life. A little thought about the incident and it’s pretty clear what this was all about. Failed attempt. Nice try.

      • Man how can you justify pulling out that big gun on children?

      • Until it’s one of your kids at the end of the barrel

    • Take a moment and close your eyes and be a policewoman for a moment. Now if I order you to approach two teens you were told were involved in assaulting, per a phone call from an unknown person, a male. Apparently with skateboard’s but it is not clear if other weapons may be involved. Now if policy required you to do so while keeping your eyes closed, then you would now be in the position any policeman is in on any typical call. Are you telling us you would walk up to this situation with no concern for your personal safety. Nor for the third party you were informed to have been assaulted? Would having your eyes open eliminate concern for your own safety?

      Your comment reflected a prevalent view of police I find weak and subject to being rethought should you need help. Perhaps not. Perhaps you would find comfort in the face of danger calling a social worker.

      • I want you to close your eyes and imagine the teens were white. Do you think someone would have called the police saying two kids were assaulting someone if these kids were white? And when cops arrived do you think they would have pulled an assault rifle on them? Obviously not. That is the issue.

      • Thats fine and no one is denying her or their feelings but its still COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY to approach CHILDREN with multiple weapons pointed at them

      • Perhaps the police officers should have taken a moment and opened their EARS! When the MANAGER of the restaurant wearing the restaurant’s uniform (so you know she is legit) tells the cops that she called the police and that he boys were the victims, the guns should have been lowered immediately. But no instead they proceeded to handcuff the boys and continued to point their guns at them. Now, open your eyes and admit the truth that if it were white boys, the police may have stayed by their cars or not (they probably would have just walked up to them) without drawing their guns and would have talked to the boys first to figure out what was going on before pulling their guns.

  2. What the hell do you expect the cops to react like when they get a call of an assault with a deadly weapon? What if Denny was being attacked with a deadly weapon? Hope he wouldn’t expect any less QUALITY from the officers! Ignorant!

  3. I have seen the video, and while it may seem excessive, police were called for assault with a deadly weapon.
    It is sad to see people being put in this situation, especially when it isn’t the right person/people.
    Nobody was harmed, however, this does leave a social scar.
    The Sheriff’s station did the correct thing in removing the officer from duty until an investigation is done.
    The voices on the video do appear to be biased in their statements, however, one would expect anyone in the area to be told to put their hands up – guns drawn for an assault with a deadly weapon – even if it was the wrong person.
    I’ve seen videos of people with an out of state truck (Texas) in Cali that have a very small ‘D’ which isnt’ read in pulled over at gun point for wrongly determined ‘stolen vehicle’.
    While this is wrong… so are the things going on in places like Portland and Chicago.

    • These kids will be affected for the rest of their lives, of course someone was harmed.

      • Thank you for understanding and getting it!

      • Being retired now, I can look back at my teenage years (yah it was the 60’s) and the multiple times I was detained by various police departments, at times being held at gun point and can honestly say that those events had absolutely zero long term effects and has caused no harm in my lifetime.

        Yes it was an unfortunate event but in truth they reacted in an appropriate manner.

        The kids will get over it.
        Now it’s your turn…

      • So… if someone was stabbed or actually assaulted, would it have made any difference ? The nobody was shot, tazed, gassed or beaten. No shots were fired period. This was a GOOD thing that when the Sheriff’s dept. was called for ‘assault with a deadly weapon’.
        The first thing that law enforcement will typically do it to secure the area and disarm everyone. Until the police can ensure that any ‘deadly weapon’ is not there or neutralized, they are going to be expective that someone has a ‘deadly’ weapon and is ready to use it.
        If you want someone to be harmed – take a look at what will happen in places like Portland, Seattle and Chicago.

    • Deadly weapon was a skateboard. The violent offender got away as everyone repeatedly told police they got it wrong…and teens probably crapped their pants thinking they were gonna die and will be haunted by it for years. All because these idiots that are being hired clearly can’t think, listen, change course even when new information is available. Helluva job….

  4. What a waste of investigative time. The cops do not know who was doing what, but were responding to a felony assault. The mother states “a gentleman” was trying to knife these kids. Not a gentleman in my book. Give me a break, would everyone be bitching and complaining if the offender actually had a firearm???

    The police are doing THEIR JOB, there have been instances in SCV when teenagers were the perpetrators. So the cops have their guns drawn. Isn’t that what they are trained to do until they are sure the area is clear??? Rhetorical question. Answer: YES

  5. Just a thought – could the dispatcher have told them the wrong information? Such as these boys were the suspects and the homeless guy was the victim? If so, the tapes will revel that and the officers can be vindicated of improper actions.

  6. The deputies were responding to an ADW call and likely had mixed or wrong information from witnesses. The jobs of the deputies is to render the scene Safe then figure out the details of what occurred. Some loud mouth woman yelling that someone didn’t do anything and accusing deputies of racism prior to them even rendering the scene safe only makes things more chaotic and dangerous.

    It’s real easy for people like the mayor, who I will not vote for ever again now, to sit back in comfort and safety, with all the Now known details and call for deputies to be invested. Maybe the mayor should go on some ride-a-longs to get an idea how quickly things evolve during calls and how dangerous things can get.

    As a community we should be supporting our deputies and be giving them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things like this. And if we don’t, I suspect they will pull back and crime will only get worse here. Think of it this way, why would a deputy go out, be proactive and work hard if they think the community will condemn them at the of a perceived mistake? It will be much easier for them to come to work and do the bare minimum and not put their careers on the line. Our community will suffer if we fail to support them!

    • Responding to Chris K’s comment:
      ” As a community we should be supporting our deputies and be giving them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things like this. And if we don’t, I suspect they will pull back and crime will only get worse here. Think of it this way, why would a deputy go out, be proactive and work hard if they think the community will condemn them at the of a perceived mistake? It will be much easier for them to come to work and do the bare minimum and not put their careers on the line. Our community will suffer if we fail to support them!”

      Well said, thank you.

  7. Is the homeless individual who is alleged to have pulled a knife and attempted to stab the teens still at large or has law enforcement cleared him?

  8. Are you kidding me? Did you watch the video before you wrote this inaccurate article? There is a witness that CLEARLY states she called in and said the teens were being assaulted, by knife and the suspect was a Hispanic male. How do you leave OUT that critical piece of information?!? These poor CHILDREN were traumatized TWICE. One by the Hispanic male and then by the cops, who were supposed to protect them!

    • Cheryl. As a 911 dispatcher we receive multiple calls on incidents with drastically differing accounts. ALL calls are listed within the incident log with each reporting party’s accounts documented. (By the way, these logs AND the radio dispatch audio are of public record and ANYONE can request them. There’s NOTHING hidden). The radio dispatcher verbally advises responding units all updated info. The units responding react accordingly to information provided by the dispatcher and to the logs displayed on their patrol vehicle’s computer. If there are conflicting reports on Assault with a Deadly Weapon the officer’s must ascertain the situation immediately upon arrival and take whatever means necessary to control the situation. Once that is completed, THEN the officers can determine exactly what occurred. Oh by the way, ascertaining the situation often occurs in SECONDS.

      When you can clearly understand the training these LEO’s go through, only then can you appreciate what they deal with on a daily basis. Go on a ride along, take the time to talk with your local LEO’s, and find out what they have to do in split second situations. Only then will I listen to your “second guessing”.

      • Thank you. While the video may show some of what occurred. It doesn’t have all of the information. I think what was done, while may appear shocking to some, appears to be (from my point of view, and what was given) appropriate. I’ll wait for facts to come out before rushing to judgement.

  9. Come on people, give our police officers a break! They were responding to a call for assault with a deadly weapon. The LEO’s have families and must protect themselves from the scum of the earth. I too have lost faith in Mayor Smyth.

  10. Typical white flight suburb responses. You all won’t know or care until it’s your child.

    • . Yet you karens would be the first to call police on an “African American man” in a park..so typical of a liberal white karen.

      • I bet all the people that called in we’re not white liberal Karen’s. They were screaming hysterical black moms. I’m sure there was plenty of video out there to because everybody pulls out their phone. Everybody needs to quit pulling the race card, EVERYBODY!!!

    • Well Said Erin! It’s always so easy to say how the police responded was within reason when it’s not “you’re kid”, of which I’m sure there’s not one white person making a comment who’s child has had the police draw a semi automatic or a rifle drawn on them. And at one point did they ever even try to listen to the main lady who called it in from Buffalo Wild Wings about the kids being attacked by the homeless person. But here again is a classic case of people passing by, seeing these young boys NOT scum Kyle protecting themselves and people’s unconscious bias kick in, and ASSUME it has to be the other way around and these boys were attacking the homeless guy. You had several people trying to plead with the police and tell them they are detaining the wrong people, and now there’s a homeless man with a knife walking the streets who got away. Three innocent black boys would have been killed had it not been for the ladies there telling them to keep there hands up because the one cop with the rifle was clearly ready to shoot these young boys and ask questions later. The police are supposed to protect and serve, not harass and be an ASS!!!

  11. You just lost my vote Cam…
    Back your Sheriffs…yes…even when it is not politically in your favor.

    Secure the scene FIRST safely, then figure out what is going on. The Deputy wants to go home to his/her family too.

  12. At least the situation was de-escalated by SCSD. Thank you …again

  13. Monday morning quarterbacking and 20/20 hindsight and both useless. However, since you are able to do it how about since we are playing the what if game, let’s make one little change. One of the teens has or the homeless person has a gun (this will work either way since the officers won’t know which as they roll up on the scene). Ok now, none of the officers pull their weapons and approach the now already tense situation with the bystander screaming making the assailant even more tense. The now stressed out assailant starts firing hitting the screaming bystander, one of the officers and several of the teens. Another twist is the Homeless person fatally stabs one of the teens and grabs another and slices their throat then lunges at a deputy and fatally stabs them. How would this turn out now Denny NNWofLA? How about this social scaring. Now a families of the officer and the parents of the murdered teens all have losses of loved ones. IMO, given the situation, the officers handled the situation at hand correctly. We citizens are NOT experts so we need to stay out of the situation and simply observe and be witnesses. The Politicians need to learn to keep their mouths shut until ALL facts are known and yes this means an investigation is completed. Stirring up a pot without the facts only makes the matter worse.

    • I agree with your comments Bob, but would also add that I am very disappointed in Mayor Cameron Smyth. I do not know what has happened to him but in the last few weeks he has become a BLM apologist and now does not support our local deputies as he should UNTIL all the facts are known and the investigation is complete. I cannot support Smyth if he continues down this path, he is losing my vote. I do not blame the deputies one bit for being cautious with guns drawn when responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call. As to the kids being traumatized, the crazy guy wielding the knife is responsible not the cops but the difference is that the homeless guy does not have deep pockets like the LASD does, you can bet the “distraught” mom has contacted a lawyer already.

  14. Let me get this right! These police men received a call of a person with a deadly weapon and they have the gall To draw their weapons! I agree with Bob, that we need to not have the pot stirred up And we need to wait for the facts to be revealed. I would expect the cops to have their weapons drawn in this kind of situation. We all should all want them to handle this the way they did.

    • Ronald, I totally agree with you and the others who are defending the Sheriff’s job of covering this call! How could anyone NOT expect them to have their weapons drawn in a situation like this?! Anything ELSE would’ve been wrong! Nobody was hurt, and don’t give me that crap about the boys being so SCARRED from the experience! They’ll get over it! If anything else happened, maybe not, but here nobody was hurt, they got to the bottom of it as they are supposed to, and the boys went home. You know the worst problem is nowadays people are WAY too sensitive about everything and react too quickly with an attitude, and are turning into pansies! It’s sad to see what I call the “pussification” of society these days! It’s a prevalent thing right now!

  15. As a friend of the police and military family members one cannot in any way shape or form condone these police officers’ actions. Their utterly hyper overreaction needs a closer look how desperately the police force needs further formal training in these types of situations when dealing with the mentally ill as well as reading a situation — yes I understand almost instantaneously—as to not escalate the danger and fear but rather decompress it.

  16. You are the problem! The Police were called because there was a report of “A DEADLY WEAPON”. You were NOT there. You did NOT see what happened. The Police are NOT Mind Readers who “know all” before they get there. You and your other Communist friends want to get rid of the police, but when your fat ass is in trouble, you want police protection. You can’t have it both ways. One day you will call 911. You will get a recording that “This number is no longer in service”.

  17. More Monday morning quarterbacking…

    God Bless Law Enforcement!! We need you now more than ever. ??

  18. I have not seen the video , so a deputy got out of his car saw two kids with skate boards and got out his assault rifle out.

  19. The homeless person with a knife wasn’t even detained.
    I’m not accusing the officers of ill intentions, but I think many posters here would feel a lot differently about how this was handled if their own kids went through this.
    Please think about that. Someone attacks your child, and when “protection” arrives, YOUR kid is put in cuffs while the offender walks away.

  20. Smh those cops knew what they were doing they didn’t see any guns or knives in those kids hands how they gonna try to say they felt in danger ! Lol scv cops have been pulling this crap for years & false classified many people as GANGMEMBERS & WHITE SUPREMACY MEMBERS … AND THE PIGS ARE THE BIGGEST GANG IN SCV

  21. Poor babies keep them home. Thanks for the deputies for de-escaliting the call. The poor babies will get over the incident, and remember the deputy’s. They made the correct call. Good info makes a difference. Defund law enforcement, they could have handled it on their own.

  22. WOW I want to know what was told to the deputies while they were responding to the call. Many informants, various descriptions of suspects and victims – officers were probably working on the better safe than sorry attitude. Just a thought and I am not going to jump to conclusions until it is fully investigated and I am not going to Monday morning quarterback the situation.

  23. All Countries CancersDiseases PoliticalParties Matter

    Who wrote this garbage ass article? They make it sound as though the teens were the problem. Several calls were made stating THE TEENS WERE BEING ATTACKED. 1 call – 1 – was made stating the teens were attacking a homeless man. All witnesses at the scene – including the Buffalo Wild Wings manager who made the initial 911 call – attempted to tell the badged pricks on the scene the teens were the victims. Everyone was trying to tell the officers the TEENS WERE THE VICTIMS. THAT needs to be made prominent in any story related to this crap. The sheriffs held the VICTIMS AT GUNPOINT. The real sad part – where was the homeless guy? You know, the perp? Free to do as he pleased. No amount of spin or BS word salad justifies this.

  24. If people here aren’t happy with law enforcement don’t make yourself miserable just move to the Pacific Northwest Or Chiraq with Lori Lightfoot where you’ll not have to worry about being harassed by L.E.The way we’re headed it’s only a matter of time where the only thing you’ll get arrested for is having a spine or backbone.

  25. If it really is standard procedure to draw guns on suspected victims of assault, even while ALL THE WITNESSES are repeatedly telling police that they’re the wrong people, standard procedure needs to change.

    All the people on here defending the police’s actions are lazy thinkers, complacent in America descending into a trash country. Do better Americans.

  26. Anyone who has ever served in the military such as I have would know that this was an over reaction on the part of the cops. I like the odds of having an automatic rifle and pistols drawn on kids from thirty yards away with potential deadly weapons such as skateboards and possibly a knife.
    People the Marine recruits down in San Diego would laugh at this video because it shows a lack of discipline and training. No one was in charge, No one assessed the situation. People please don’t be afraid of black kids with skateboards.

  27. This video should be shown to all military recruits so that they can see what a deadly situation looks like. Three kids with deadly skateboards and possibly a knife against cops behind squad car doors, pistols drawn, another cop pulls up with an assault weapon drawn. These guys are in no imminent danger. Get a job or join the military so you can learn to think. The young Air Force police women on an Air Force base are better trained. These guys are sorry. Training please.

  28. Regardless of weather this extreme reaction is determined to be right or wrong and we can debate that forever and not get anywhere…. even when there is no witness on scene feeling threatened by the 3 boys or claiming that there was any other victims than the young men at the bus stop. They did not run when they heard the sirens, did not leave the scene or attempt to hide. Did the deputies, at the end of all of this have the decency to explain to these young men why they approached them with guns drawn the way they did, why they didn’t search for the person who they were told by bystanders including THE woman who made the 911 call had run away in that >>>> direction, disregarded the community members and eye witness on the scene while letting the real attacker run off into our community to most likely attempt to assault another person or commit other crimes. That was a waste of my taxpayer money. Knowing that these deputies don’t have the ability to use any common sense required to attempt, let alone actually capture an armed assailant is very discouraging. Regardless of what they are told by dispatch they need to be able to adapt when on the scene and take in the information that they have available to them, make quick decisions on appropriate actions to take. Not only to determine weather to hold people at gunpoint and detain them for questioning, use lethal force, etc. but to look for the suspect identified by THE caller.

    Mom,
    Did these deputies have the decency to explain their actions and lack of reactions to these young men once they had completed their 30 minutes of questioning and accomplishing absolutely nothing?

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About Devon Miller

Devon Miller was born and raised in Santa Clarita. He joined KHTS Radio as a digital marketing intern in September of 2017, and later moved to news as a staff writer in December. Miller attended College of the Canyons and served as the Associated Student Government President. Miller is now News Director for KHTS, covering breaking news and politics across the Santa Clarita Valley.