KING CITY, Calif.- Some King City parents say they're scared and police aren't doing enough to keep their kids safe.
During Thursday's Facebook morning meeting Valerie Geml claimed King City police are keeping information about shootings "hush, hush" and not telling the public what's going on.
"I have a 6 year old who loves to play in the front yard, summer's coming around this stuff has been flaring up recently."
Valerie Geml is talking about gang violence, shootings in particular, "It's happening just around the corner."
Around the corner is Valerie's son's school and North San Lorenzo Street. A street she says is bustling with gang activity.
"You can hear cars driving away, speeding away, you can hear the gunshots."
King City police said the last shooting that happened at that corner was in November, after school hours. A month before that shooting, there were two others, one person died.
The King City police chief confirmed what Geml heard about bullet casings passerbys found on the ground near the school.
"The kids don't need to be around that type of stuff...They don't need to be finding bullets at school or seeing police officers look for evidence."
Geml said she always see police cars in her neighborhood and King City police are sweeping a bigger problem under the rug, "'Do you have confidence in the police department?' No...I don't...Not at all...You hear rumors and you don't know what to believe, you are just concerned."
Central Coast News gave police chief Nick Baldiviez the opportunity to defend his department and their efforts to combat gang violence. He didn't want to go on camera, but said things have been quiet in the city in the past few months, and if you see police cars you should feel safe.
Geml isn't convinced the violence is over.
"It's a concern of mine that one night my child may be outside playing, riding his bike and he could get run over by a car or hit by a stray bullet; you just never know."
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