Gilbert police say they have fielded more than 260 calls tied to teen-on-teen violence over the past two years, a number shared publicly as Preston Lord’s stepmother and other families pushed for policy changes at a local summit. The figure only counts incidents where both the victim and the suspect were teenagers, meaning cases involving adults were left out of the tally entirely.
Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg disclosed the count, telling reporters that his office made 22 arrests in January alone for group attacks, according to kvoa.com. Soelberg was explicit that the 260-call figure excludes any incident where an adult was involved, saying the department tracked only cases where “the victim and suspect were teens.” The story was also covered by FOX 10 Phoenix as families continued advocating for stronger protections against group attacks involving minors.
Nine Active Cases, Some Dating Back Years
Separately, Gilbert police chief told the town council that there are officially nine active teen violence cases under investigation, per a report from ktar.com. The department had initially reported eight active cases earlier that week, split evenly between four previously unreported incidents and four cases that had been reopened.
A ninth case was added after police received a report describing an assault that occurred in November 2022, one that had gone unreported to authorities for years before surfacing recently, the outlet noted. Soelberg also told the council that victims have recently begun using the term “Gilbert Goons” when describing the people involved in these attacks, a label he said his office has started hearing directly from those reporting incidents.
Police Track Teen Violence
Gilbert police are investigating reported teen-on-teen attacks…