Santa Monica police officer stabbed, suspect shot

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA. – When Janet McLaughlin heard that the police officer stabbed to death in Santa Monica on Saturday was released from the hospital today, it was good news. She started a Facebook page called Santa Monicans Against Crime.

“Thank God,” she said.

Her Facebook page and her organization are about fighting crime and violence, and this weekend the stabbing of a Santa Monica police officer who was stabbed multiple times with a large knife by a homeless man in his 30s.

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It happened near the front door of the police station. The officer fired back, killing the man.

This was so disturbing to McLaughlin.

“I couldn’t even sleep last night,” she said. “It’s so disturbing to all of us, not just me… We feel like a police officer, trained to deal with these potentially violent situations, armed with a weapon, standing at the front doors of the police department, is being stabbed.” can.” several times, what chances do the rest of us have?”

John Allen knows the feeling.

“I was attacked in Palisades Park,” he said.

It happened in September 2023. Everyone said the man came from behind.

“I broke my jaw in two places. A month later I had brain surgery and then another brain surgery.”

As a result, he founded an anti-crime organization here in Santa Monica called the Santa Monica Coalition.

For Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock, the police knife attacks were horrific.

“Look at this…if our police can’t be safe outside the police station, then none of my residents are safe,” he said.

Brock says Santa Monica needs more officers — and they’re hiring.

He says their budget is 232; They only have 214. He thinks they could use about 280.

“But the level of mental health, the level of substance abuse; the level of insecurity on the part of our residents; the level of fear we have for this to stop,” he said.

He said he had been trying to get the council to agree for three years, but added that “it’s a divided council.”

“We have more county mental health officers on the streets of Santa Monica and whether you are homeless or housed, you must be held accountable for your actions,” he said.