Glendale’s Community Newspaper
www.glendalestar.com
Vol. 78 No. 26
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BUSINESS ......... 14 Times Square brings home on a plate to Glendale
Teens arrested after shooting at Glendale officers BY SCIANNA GARCIA
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Glendale Star Staff Writer
wo teenagers were arrested after shooting at Glendale police officers who were investigating a burglary the night of June 20. The two teens, boys ages 13 and 14, were arrested June 21 and are accused of firing gunshots at a group of officers responding to a residential burglary call near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. The two will face charges on numerous possible felonies, including aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and attempted murder counts. “It’s one thing to have this happen,” Sgt. Randy Stewart said at a recent press con-
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Glendale Star Staff Writer
Local grief support center receives grant
OPINION.......................... 10 BUSINESS.......................14 SPORTS ...........................16 CALENDAR .....................18 FEATURES.......................20 RELIGION ........................22 CLASSIFIEDS ..................24
ference. “But when you find out later that it’s two juveniles, 13 and 14 years old, that were shooting at you for no apparent reason, it’s appalling. “In almost 20 years that I’ve been here, I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Just before midnight, Glendale police said they were investigating the area of a suspected burglary when they heard four shots, one of which was “dangerously close” to hitting an officer’s head. As each of the shots missed, none of the officers nor the three detained burglary suspects were injured. At the time, the officers were unaware of where the shots had come from. With the use of ShotSpotter technology,
investigators were able to trace the juveniles to an apartment complex near 59th Avenue and Rose Lane. ShotSpotter is an artificial intelligence gun system that listens for possible gunfire in the city and provides police with an approximate location. Investigators also located security footage from a nearby surveillance camera, which had recorded the teens firing the rounds and videotaping it with their phone. From the surveillance, an identification was able to be made on the 14-year-old boy, who had previous run-ins with the police.
Library, improvements at Thunderbird Conservation Park, the addition of five new splash pads and renovations of three existing splash pads throughout the city, and improvements to Fire Station 153. The 2022-23 fiscal year budget includes an operating budget of $546 million. Highlights from this year’s operating budget include inflationary increases to contractual obligations, utilities, supplies, fuel and shop charges. The city will also add close to 60 new positions for employees who will continue its attempt at improving the lives of those who live, work and play in Glendale. General fund revenues, which are primarily used for general government operations, are projected to be $255 million.
The largest operating budgets are the police and fire departments, with expenditures totaling $158 million, or 61% of the budget. “This new budget afforded us the opportunity to not only expand our police force with more full-time employees but our fire department as well,” said Lisette Camacho, Glendale director of budget and finance. “We also were able to invest back into our water infrastructure, which is crucial now more than ever with the drought management plan that our city recently announced.” The next-largest operating budget is public facilities, recreation and special events at $17.8 million, which reflects the
SEE SHOOTING PAGE 7
Glendale City Council approves 2022-23 budget BY JORDAN ROGERS
FEATURES ......... 20
June 30, 2022
ity council approved Glendale’s budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year at the June 14 city council meeting. Prepared each fiscal year that annually runs from July 1 through June 30, the budget passed includes a $1.07 billion request. This is a 14% decrease from fiscal year 2021-22’s budget of $1.24 billion. Set to cover the next 10 years, a $1.4 billion capital improvement plan was introduced as well. The capital improvement plan will round out at $287 million and will cover many notable projects within its first year, such as the Downtown Campus Reinvestment Project, improvements at the Main
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