STOCKTON, Calif. — The Stockton community and surrounding areas are breathing easier knowing a person of interest in the Stockton serial killings is in custody. Police Chief Stan McFadden is crediting the community with helping them capture Wesley Brownlee.
“When this individual was caught, it was a sigh of relief. It was a breath of fresh air. We definitely beefed up our security here at our church. We have a lot of women, a lot of children,” said Life City Church pastor Leon Scoggins.
He and people like Faith in the Valley organizer, Toni McNeil, took it upon themselves to ramp up efforts to catch the killer.
"We were already working on a community town hall because of the increase in gun violence. We've done a lot of work with the community to hold events that they wanted to hold in hot spots that usually have an increase in gun violence through the summer,” McNeil said.
With a lot of engagement and the uptick in cases, clergy, faith leaders and city leaders knew they had to work on a solution.
"Talking to our congregation was a big thing, giving them the information that we had. I know that we had a town hall meeting… so I definitely attended that so that I could come back to my congregation to let them know the updates,” said Scoggins.
He encouraged his congregation to speak up if they saw or knew anything. Stockton police say they received hundreds of tips from the community despite there being a history of not sharing information with officials.
"There's more when it comes to those in marginalized communities, but particularly Black and Brown individuals. There's not a lot of trust historically that has been there. We've done a lot of work in order to build community trust,” McNeil said.
Instead of going back to keeping quiet when crime happens, they’re asking their communities to be more vocal than before.
"When we begin to care about Stockton and change our mentality, the serial killer is not just what's in headlines, but it's any individual that's harming our community and not just physically but with drugs - all types of different things that harm our community,” Scoggins said.
Faith in the Valley says it’s going to be leading a series of listening sessions in marginalized communities. The first will be at Stockton Covenant Church on Oct. 26. It will be for the Spanish-speaking community.
WATCH ALSO:
