Teen violence: Phoenix area leaders, families meet to combat problem
Gilbert police share teen-on-teen violence data
Preston Lord's stepmom and other families push for policy changes at local summit. Meanwhile, Gilbert Police report responding to 260 calls for teen violence since 2022. FOX 10's Steve Nielsen reports.
GILBERT, Ariz. - It has been nearly three years since Preston Lord was beaten and killed at a Halloween party in Queen Creek. His death brought to light the serious problem of teen violence in the East Valley, and on Sept. 25, state and local leaders gathered together to try to find solutions.
Local perspective:
Mark Jocobo lost his son Stephen to teen violence in 2022.
"Losing a child by any violence is unexplainable," Jacobo with the SBJ Foundation said. "There are no words in a dictionary that can explain it. Every family deals with it differently. I am just here to bring awareness, educate other families to hopefully save a life and not have another family go through that."
He spoke at the Stronger Together Summit about the teen violence problem in the East Valley.
"I was that family that thought nothing could ever happen to my family, and it did," Jacobo said.
What they're saying:
Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart said the summit hopes to find tangible solutions and policy changes.
"We're making the change, and it comes from community involvement, and so we're grateful," Supervisor Stewart said.
Big picture view:
The problem is real. They revealed data from Gilbert police that shows they have responded to 260 calls for teen-on-teen violence since 2022.
"There is bullying, there is violence planned online and finding ways we can help them get in front of that and hear from them on how we can fix policy in order to change that," Stewart said.
"I think there is a huge disconnect between mental health for children and school services," Melissa Ciconte said.
Melissa is Preston Lord's stepmom. He was 16 when he was beaten to death at a Halloween party in Queen Creek.
"Preston was the epitome of the perfect child, which never really exists, but in him it actually did," Ciconte said.
She says finding solutions to violence matters.
"You never know who violence is going to affect or when or where, but it is out there and it is real," Ciconte said.
The event comes just after Preston Lord Day on Sept. 23, which marks his birthday. He would have just turned 19.
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from Mark Jacobo, representative with the SBJ Foundation; Mark Stewart, Maricopa County Supervisor; Melissa Ciconte, Preston Lord's stepmom; and data from the Gilbert Police Department.