SALT LAKE CITY — The Glendale neighborhood has seen a recent rash of shootings.
In all, four separate incidents have taken place since May 18.
On May 26, Salt Lake City police say dispatchers received calls of a shooting in the area of 1800 West Fortune Road.
When officers arrived, they found the victim, 30-year-old Nico Christopher Patino, who had been shot. Patino would die at the scene.
Officials say it appeared there was a fight that led up to that shooting.
Just two days later, police say an argument between two people led to a shooting just after 4 p.m. in the area of 3200 West Decade Drive.
When officers and paramedics found 42-year-old Thomas Priest lying on the ground with a gunshot wound.
Priest would die at the scene.
59-year-old David Chase was arrested on one count of murder and booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail.
Those two incidents, resulted in the fifth and sixth homicides in Salt Lake City, so far this year.
"We do recognize that there have been a few high-profile incidents in these areas, but we just want let our community members know that we are addressing these issues," said Salt Lake City Police Ofc. Yaier Javaid.
Police say overall crime in the Glendale neighborhood is down 9% and property crime in the area is down 10%. The recent amount of shootings in the area, however, is abnormal.
This sentiment is shared by Glendale Neighborhood Council chairman Turner Bitton.
"To have this many shootings involving injuries such a short period of time, I mean, it's, it's definitely frustrating and it's concerning," said Bitton.
Bitton represents an area, that he says, has approximately 20,000 residents.
"It's an incredibly diverse neighborhood, So we've got folks from all over the world that call our neighborhood home," said Bitton.
Ofc. Javaid told FOX 13 News on Friday about some of the resources that are dedicated to that area.
"We do have different resources such as west side bikes, bike units that are primarily, over that area over the West side,, that are continuously patrolling trying to minimize these criminal activities in that area."
He says the community is the department's eyes and ears and that they use their help to combat situations, like this.
"We are going use our resources where we believe that it's going be needed based on the stats that we have based on the community members that are calling," said Ofc. Javaid.
Bitton echoed that by saying it is important for the community to communicate and that if you see something, say something and report it to law enforcement.
He told FOX 13 News that they plan to have both their local detective and gang sergeant attend the next monthly community meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, June 19.
