Teen violence: Gilbert Police chief gives update on their ongoing investigation
GILBERT, Ariz. - Teen violence continues to be at the forefront of Gilbert's police department, and on Jan. 25, the town's police chief gave an update on the latest developments.
This is the second meeting involving Chief Michael Soelberg since the death of Preston Lord in Queen Creek. Preston's death prompted a look into other assault cases by police.
"We still are an excellent, safe community," said Chief Soelberg. "Unfortunately, we've had these acts of violence. We are doing everything we can to put an end to it."
In the past week, a handful of arrests have been made related to teen violence in the Wast Valley.
"We had ten prior to last week. We had one earlier this week, and three yesterday," said Chief Soelberg. "Related to teen violence. We did have two additional yesterday that were related to additional investigations that came from that."
The three people arrested on Jan. 24 were identified as 18-year-old Kyler Renner, 19-year-old Gage Garrison, and a 17-year-old.
"The state is extremely concerned for the safety of the community as a result of the suspect's dangerous actions – in this case, attacking a victim with two other accomplices, while the victim was curled up in a ball on the ground and unable to defend himself. One of the accomplices was using brass knuckles," said Chief Soelberg.
Renner was arrested in connection with two cases: an assault in November 2022 and another assault in a parking garage on Dec. 3, 2022. Investigators say Garrison and the 17-year-old were arrested in connection with the parking garage assault in December.
Gilbert police are currently investigating 10 group teen violence assaults, but the question remains if the Gilbert goons can be classified as a gang.
"I can tell you we've made progress in the investigation," said Chief Soelberg. "And just to remind everybody that this investigation not only involves Gilbert PD, but there is the DPS to get on a task force, Queen Creek Police Department, Mesa Police Department, the police department in our county, sheriff's office. Their focus is identifying whether we can or cannot identify any of these individuals as a gang, regardless of what that gang name is."
Chief Soelberg wouldn't give an exact number on how many more suspects they are still looking for, but all of the cases are ongoing.