WeHo residents robbed at gunpoint speak out

Daniel Berilla and Matthew Broughton were two of the three West Hollywood residents robbed at gunpoint last week. They and another friend who was robbed last year came before the Public Safety Commission on Monday night to share their experiences and plead for more resources to be devoted to the city’s armed law enforcement agency:

Hello, Commissioners. My name is Daniel (Berilla), a resident of West Hollywood for over 12 years now. It’s crazy; I didn’t know the story reached people that were so local. I’m one of the three people, you know, that were robbed on Larabee. I never thought in a million years that something like this could happen to me. You hear it happening to other people, maybe not friends, like people that know people that know people, like that would never happen, so you don’t take it seriously. And I never thought I would get involved in the way that I’ve got involved with the news and going on NBC and doing radio interviews because after that all happened, and I went through my trauma for the first three days of last week, I was like, what can I do to make the city safer? And the answer is, I can’t do anything, but I can talk to people that can do things because I know action doesn’t really happen unless there’s pressure from outside sources like news and whatnot. In a city where I pay taxes, and the Block by Block thing specifically, that we pay for, we pay for safety, I have never felt safe walking around West Hollywood. It’s been getting worse and worse the past couple of years, and I think it’s because this Block by Block kind of initiative has made headlines in the worst ways when it comes to criminals. I think they know that there are areas of West Hollywood that just, I’m sorry, that are just not patrolled whatsoever, and it’s the words getting out there, specifically between Santa Monica and Palm, as you all know, maybe that we all nickname it “Murder Street” in West Hollywood because people have been murdered on Palm, robbed on Palm so many times. But the crazy thing is, there have been 33, I believe, 33 robberies that reported this year. I might have the numbers wrong, but I didn’t write anything down. And they all just get washed under the rug, and people aren’t talking about it. They’re afraid to talk about it, and I’m going to be one of those people that are not afraid to talk about what happened to me and my friends because one of my friends, you’ll see, he’s here, and he’s going to talk a little bit too. He just moved to West Hollywood, just moved to that area, and he moved one house away from where we were robbed. We were robbed at gunpoint, and because we have, we’re supposed to feel safe with these people walking around. They don’t have guns, just like Mikey was saying, they can be robbed as well. There’s nothing protecting us. I see no sheriffs whatsoever walking up and down the streets. Santa Monica Boulevard and Sunset, yes, but like the streets where people live, I feel so afraid to go home now. I haven’t been to the bar yet. I am at the bars all the time for dodgeball and kickball and stuff, but now I’m just afraid for my life. I never thought in a million years that I should have to be that, especially when my taxes paid for things to make me feel safe, and I feel anything but safe.

Hi, everyone. My name is Matthew Broughton. Most people call me Matt. I am one of the other people involved in the recent robbery on Larrabee, as you know. I just moved here about three weeks ago, never in my wildest dreams thinking that my life could almost be taken from me. This is the first time that I’ve talked about this publicly. It’s been very hard on me, and I’m trying my best not to cry in front of all of you right now. I’ve lived in LA for about three years, and I’ve heard about things happening in West Hollywood, but it’s different when it happens to you, especially during Pride month. Our community is under attack; there are countless people that this is happening to that since this happened to me, I’ve heard several people. I have extreme PTSD as a result. This happened right in front of my brand new apartment. I can’t go out at night. I’m having a hard time sleeping, I’m having a hard time eating. My safety has been taken from me, and I want you to all imagine for a second if this happened to your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your friend, and having to be in a place where this is West Hollywood. This is where the LGBTQ+ community comes together, and we don’t feel safe. I certainly don’t feel safe. So, I want to take a moment to tell you what happened during Pride month. We were walking. It was the early morning of Monday and walking down, having a great time, when four men jumped out of a car, pointed a gun at my stomach, took everything from me. And I know this is being broadcast. I will not be cussing, proceeded to say a derogatory slur to me that we all pretty much know what that slur is, pointed a gun at me, and said if I don’t give them a pass to my phone, they’re going to shoot me. They tackled my other friend, took everything I have. I have no form of, I’m trying to deal with my life, and it’s really hard to go on each day to know that I now have to live here. This is a great welcome, right? To West Hollywood, you just moved here, you worked so hard to come here, now all of a sudden, I don’t feel safe anymore, and it’s really hard for me. So, I want all of you, as elected people or whatever your titles are, to realize how important this issue is and how that particular area is now known, that that is a problem in the area. So, I would like to see some changes made. There need to be more cameras in the area, you know, more police patrol. There needs to be various things so this doesn’t happen because what if my life was taken? It was that close to being taken, and had I argued with those men, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now. And I just thank you all for letting me speak. I know my 3 minutes are almost up, but I really want you just to let that sink in. Imagine it happened to someone you know, and they were standing here trying to tell you that.

Good afternoon, West Hollywood officials, as well as fellow citizens. My name is Enrique Quintero, and I have lived and played and worked in our fair city for over 13 years. Let it be clear: we are being targeted. These assaults are patterns; they’re not events occurring in a vacuum. And what’s my message to people who say they want to visit and spend money in West Hollywood? Don’t come. Let’s get to the details. On Wednesday, July 19th, at approximately 1:00 a.m., I was assaulted by three individuals wielding three guns, two handguns, and one long rifle, at the intersection of Larabee and Cynthia, one block away from my current residence. They wrestled me to the ground and left me battered and bruised and took from me my wallet and phone before speeding off. The incident was caught on camera. My case was handed over to Detective Candace Gonzalez of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department. Using the Find My feature, I was able to track their location to a specific phone address that same day on Google Street View. A vehicle matching the description of a black SUV from the video evidence was spotted in a multi-family residence on 1650 Arlington Avenue. I’m doing the cop’s job, so hopefully, I’ll get a little bit of credit there. Eventually, my phone was tracked to a home repair shop where it was recovered by the LA Sheriff’s Department. Extra video footage showing the perpetrator’s faces, again, was discovered. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the case was forwarded over to federal agents, a detective Ruben with the Special Crimes Department. To my dismay, Detective Ruben did not have much interest in pursuing my case. One day in mid-September when I called to receive any updates on my case, Detective Ruben told me that they would not pursue a warrant on the suspects because, and I quote, “they wanted to wait for them to strike again so they could have a stronger case.” What if they kill someone next time, detective, was my response. I don’t remember what he said, but the fact that I erased it from my mind tells me that it must have been something unfathomably stupid and something that I did not want to hear. 10 months later, I found out that my good friend Daniel Burilla and his two other innocent people suffered the exact same fate in the exact same location where I was violently assaulted. Is this how we treat violent individuals that specifically target our city? Let them do worse because I’m going to keep telling people, don’t come. I still suffer from post-traumatic stress, diagnosed. I still jump at shadows. I’m still afraid of walking my dog at night, of doing anything at night. This is going to keep getting worse unless you guys do something about it. What that thing is, it’s not my job; that’s why we elected y’all, so you can do that for us. More patrols would help, for sure. More cameras definitely help. And also, when you find evidence that people are assaulting others in our city, you actually do something about it. Right now, all of them are talking to each other and saying, hey, you see this area full of all these drunk, probably rich gay guys? Go there at 3: a.m. on a Tuesday. It’s easy pickings.