On Tuesday, several Brentwood residents spoke out over public safety concerns after a recent robbery attempt turned shootout that left one person dead in a shootout.
Residents called for an ordinance and more protections against for-profit parties in residential neighborhoods after a July 14 robbery attempt turned into a shootout that left one juvenile dead, another wounded.
Brentwood Police identified the suspect in a July 14 shooting as Antonio Barajas, 20 of Walnut Creek, who was booked on multiple charges including attempted murder and robbery. Police say Barajas is the surviving suspect in the robbery attempt that turned into a shoot out on Marjoram Drive and he was booked into the Maritnez Detention Facility on Saturday morning. During the shooting, a 17-year-old City of Antioch resident was killed as he and Barajas attempted to rob a 21-year-old Antioch man.
On Tuesday, Brentwood Police say they had 12 calls for service to the Marjoram Drive neighborhood since 2022 and staff said they already have an ordinance that does not permit for-profit parties in backyards.
Still, several residents urged the council to take action now that they are aware of a disconnect between residents and Brentwood city staff and wanted the Brentwood police to do more to prevent these activities.
Here is a recap of what was stated during the meeting:
Shante Williams, a 10-year resident of Brentwood, said he moved to Brentwood for low crime rates and worry about outside interferences in the Bay Area, but spoke on the recent shooting.
“The resident at 785 Chili Ct, Ty Brown, has been hosting parties at his house, whether illegally or not, since last year when he threw, which you can look online, its out there, he threw a thick and wet pool party, big girl edition on July 20, 2022. He received his LLC on June 17, 2022 and proceeded to have his first part of many that Ty Brown held in which our neighborhood was left in shambles. Loud music, Unruly guests, lots of trash left out. Many occasions with a broom and dustpan and pick up the trash. As community, we tried to reach out to him and handle this civilly. But the parties continued. They continue in such a way we felt hostage. We couldn’t walk our kids down the street, we couldn’t drive our cars cause he would block the cars. The cars were from Chili Court down to the mailbox which is approximately 200 yards. These parties continued and persisted and as neighbors we tried to talk to him civilly but it got to the point where we tried to get the city involved, I won’t name names, but unfortunately I feel like we were bullied by some of the city people saying that if we look into this mans property we are going to have to look into everyone else’s property. It wasn’t a favorable outcome when we were looking for assistance. Fast forward to July 14 around 6:00 pm, partygoers at Ty’s house, which was a paid event, we have flyers, we have documentation, violence erupted and spilled out of his house and there was a gun battle and we were all held hostage. One young man was airlifted out and succumbed to his injuries, two others taken into custody. I do believe guns were recovered at the scene… my point being, there has to be some type of recourse or backlash for when people just want to host parties at their homes for profit. We saw what happened in Lafayette years ago at an Airbnb with several homicides, well guess what, its on our door step now.”
Williams continued by saying the parties won’t let up and with him being a “black man” he tries to throw the race card to sway people from having an opinion or talk to city council. He asked about any recourse for people hosting parties for profit at their homes and putting everyone in harms way. He asked the city council for help.
Nahleen, also a resident on Marjoram, who lives across the street from Ty Brown’s house, spoke about the complete disruptiveness from the parties.
“I am hoping the city council will recognizes this is an issue. This has been an issue in Antioch and I work directly with the police, one of the big issues in Antioch is there is not a ban and AirBnB and house parties have terrorized neighborhoods for a longtime. It has to turn into lawsuits and code environment involvement. We are hoping that in Brentwood before this gets going that there is going to be some sort of assistance from the city council in either banning these types of for profit parties or setting up some sort of ordinance that further defines he is not allowed to run a party facility in our neighborhood,” said Nahleen.
She continued by stating while these parties are going on they are blocked in and she could not even go outside due to the hotboxing or has people partying along her side fence and while her husband is out front, shots are being fired on July 14.
“We are in danger and we are hoping something can be done before like one of our neighbors gets hurt,” said Nahleen. “I know many of the neighbors are traumatized by it, I am a little more immune to it due to the work I do, but there is many neighbors talking about their children having nightmares of people with guns chasing them. The people were hear until the early hours until they found the other gun that was pitched into a backyard where children live and having been walked by the blood crime scene. Its not conducive for the type of life we want in Brentwood. Right now, its just in our neighborhood but I am encouraging everyone to hear what we are saying because if its starting, its going to happen again in another neighborhood. Before its too late, we would like to stop it.”
Russell, who says he was a neighbor of Ty, but his children’s mother still lives there with his two kids, now refuses to let them go back there because its unsafe.
“To have something going on like this, which I just found out after the party its been going on for a while, is just absolutely absurd. I am standing by with all the neighbors to get this onto an agenda,” said Russell.
Aimee said on July 14 she and her husband were watching cars pull up and cars pull up people were smoking weed.
“I told my husband with these parties one of my biggest fears were someone pulling out a gun. Not more than 30-minutes later, I heard about 6-rounds of a gun go off just after I put my kids to bed. My husband had just picked up a package off the porch just 15-seconds prior to the gunshots going off. I ran to our front window and I watched the man who ended up dying bleeding and yelling for someone to call an ambulance. I was so scared and I watched it unfold, I called the Brentwood police department begging for them to come. At this point, it’s a gun battle and I don’t know if they are trying to hide from the Brentwood police, come into our home or our neighbors home. Brentwood Police show up and we are able to go outside. I watched this man basically die right there as he went limp on the stretcher. This has been a really traumatizing experience for my family… I have had trouble sleeping, I do not feel safe. The next morning Hazmat was scrubbing blood off in front of my house. My daughter walked outside asking why there is yellow tape and what is that guy doing and I had to say they are just cleaning the streets. We had to stay in our home all morning because there was so much blood on our street, on my neighbors driveway, everywhere. We had to stay trapped until they were done cleaning the blood. This has to stop and we know what he is doing is not legal, he cannot run a party business from his backyard. We have raised our concerns and now its effecting our neighborhood and everyone in Brentwood should be concerned about this issue. It could be your home or your neighborhood. There needs to be an ordinance because of how important it is. I hope no one has to experience what we have experienced. As a community we need to come together to stop this.”
Sam Hader said the concern has now been raised and this is now the second time with death and destruction on our doorsteps in this neighborhood.
“This agenda item that we are bringing up should be at the top of every city councilmembers list of things to get done. It rises above Costco, Pickleball, Chamber of Commerce and everything else I’ve heard today. It’s a matter of public safety,” said Hader. “Something has got to be done and this should be the first thing on the agenda of every conversation until an ordinance is passed to keep us safe. My wife can’t sleep at night, she is anxious, we don’t have peace. This is something I feel very strongly that the city council now owns and its in your hands to do something about because we have done our job.”
Camille Williams spoke about how she moved from San Jose 10-years ago and never thought she would speak at a council meeting regarding a homicide that occurred on her street.
“I am only 17, but growing up I have always been in a position to feel safe and I can go outside and walk my dog, ride my bike. To see what happened on my street and court was really shocking to me. That same night I was supposed to go out with a friend to see a move and I didn’t feel safe to leave my own home because of the crime scene and my friend couldn’t even pick me up because of how taped off the street and the investigation,” said Williams. “Being in that position, it shouldn’t happen. I should be able to walk around my street, see my friends and not be worried about being shot at, dying, its hurt my heart to see my neighbors and community in fear with the parties that have been happening. I hope bringing attention to the council can have some sort of resolve.”
After public comments, Mayor Joel Bryant said by law the council is limited to any response they could make right now, but wanted to open it up to city staff to provide information.
“I am heartbroken for the families and I am furious that this happened here. And I have to legally stop with that,” said Bryant.
City Manager Tim Ogden said they share the same concerns about the violence in the community and their hearts go out to those effected and impacted but added they have current codes in place that prohibit this type of activity. He also allowed community development and Brentwood police to share information.
Alexis Morris, Community Development Director, said for profit private parties are not allowed in residential neighborhoods within the municipal code or zoning ordinance. There is no permit or permission one can get to permit that type of activity in a residential neighborhood.
“Certain types of home based businesses are allowed, but those require permits and very limited in the types of activities you can conduct in your home. Basically, you can have no impact on your neighbors and no one would know you are there conducting a business,” said Morris. “In terms of an ordinance, this activity isn’t explicated prohibited, its not permitted if that makes sense. You cannot have this type of business in a residential neighborhood.”
Brentwood Police Chief Tim Herbert shared that since June 2022, they have had 12 calls for service in that neighborhood and none were related to parties.
“From our perspective, we were made aware of the party that Mr. Williams spoke about with the Thick and Wet in 2022, which we worked with community engagement and contacted the residence where that party was shut down and did not occur,” explained Herbert. “From our perspective, we don’t have the calls for service regarding multiple calls to this home for parties. As far as the criminal side, I can’t speak to that because its an ongoing criminal investigation. From our perspective, the calls for service are not there and would encourage the neighbors in that neighborhood to call when parties are occurring and if there is criminal activity we can take action on we will.
Herbert also said in order to enforce the municipal code, Brentwood Police would need more evidence to support that the activity is occurring. We would then work with community engagement to shut the residence down going forward.
Under Future Agenda Item Requests
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza requested they speak about an ordinance around the parties spoken during public comments.
“I don’t know what that looks like, I know we have the short-term rental one, but I think we need to be more specific,” said Mendoza. “I also think we can add something about amplified music. I know other cities try to keep down these parties by controlling amplified music—Antioch does that. But I think we need to find away to help everyone.”
Mendoza also said she wanted to get down to the miscommunication where the community feels like they have called in and have not been heard while we as a city have not gotten calls.
“We need to understand where the breakdown are not happening again when it comes to these neighborhood parties and resident calls,” said Mendoza.
The Bentwood Police Department has not issued any additional information on the shooting since an arrest was made.
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