FOUR-YEAR-OLD ABDUCTED:
Breanna Shields’ booking photo.
The Santa Monica Police Department responded to a call at 12:11 p.m. in the 1900 block of Lincoln. A four-year-old girl and her grandmother were at a Panda Express when the girl was abducted. Witnesses said the grandmother had gone up to a counter to pay for their meal when the suspect lured the girl outside, according to ABC Channel 7. Police responded within minutes and gathered video images of the kidnapper, described as a white, heavyset female in her 30s.
More than 30 sworn and civilian personnel flooded the area, searching for the child and suspect. About 30 minutes later, Downtown Services Unit found them in a room at the Holiday Motel at 11th and Pico.
Police released a statement “Our heartfelt wishes go out to the child and her family as they deal with the shock of the ordeal.” The suspect, Breanna Shields, 31, was booked into jail for kidnapping charges. “Additional updates will be forthcoming when the case is presented to the District Attorney’s office.” Her bail was set at $100,00 and she is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
Police said it had appeared that the suspect had been residing in the Holiday Motel for an extended period of time.
HOMELESS HOLDS KNIFE TO TEEN’S THROAT:
Santa Monica Pier
The Santa Monica Daily Press reported on July 13, that a homeless man held a knife to the throat of a 16-year-old boy at the Santa Monica Pier about 2:35 p.m. on July 7. The suspect, Francisco Daniel Espindola, approached the boy, who was fishing with his mother near the west end of Santa Monica Pier. The homeless man grabbed the victim’s fishing knife from a nearby bench and held the blade to boy’s neck.
According to the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD), Espindola said in Spanish, “Be careful. I can kill you.”
The boy lifted his hands, the mother ran toward the suspect and tried to de-escalate the situation by laughing.
Espindola, 33, kept the knife raised before sitting it back down and going to a nearby beach. He was located by police and arrested.
On July 9, the District Attorney filed one charge of Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Espindola is currently on probation for robbery.
Speaking to the Daily Press, SMPD Lieutenant Erika Aklufi said, “As you will agree, this incident was extremely distressing for both the victim and his mother and we are all very, very glad we were able to get this individual in custody.”
SATURDAY NIGHT MELEE:
One SM resident wrote on a social media platform that there was a “Huge fight in downtown Santa Monica after a drone show at the pier tonight. About 100 young adults tried to jump a single kid and chased him to the Surfing Fox bar on Colorado.
“A couple of brave Latino guys kept the kid from getting killed until the cops arrived .. They were assaulted a number of times by people in the crowd. It was pretty f**king horrible and it took too long for the cops to arrive.
“When they did, they had no idea what was happening and the people assaulting this kid got away. We definitely need more police presence on the street near the pier, especially on weekends during the summer,” the resident said, “There has been a violent assault every weekend this year! I hope some of the people who were videotaping share their video with the police!”
DEFUND THE POLICE:
The Santa Monica Police Department was defunded in 2020. The Police Department no longer has a plainclothes unit, a street interdiction team, a full-time mounted unit or a fully staffed downtown unit, all were units the department formerly staffed.
The Santa Monica Daily Press reported on July 10 (“Opinion: Santa Monica Massively Underfunding Its Police Department”) that Santa Monica is spending 25.70% of its general fund budget on the Police Department. If you compare the police budget to the whole budget (general fund and CIP budget), it’s a paltry 15.38%. In comparison, Manhattan Beach and Glendale commit over 40% of their budget to keep their cities safe, Torrance and Huntington Beach spend 35.5% and 34.07% of the budget to keep their city safe, while Culver City commits 30.14% of its general fund. Even other liberal cities like Berkeley, California proposed 32.28% of its 2025 budget to fund its Police Department.