Twin Falls ID Shooter Still At Large; Do City Parks Need Cameras?

It's been a week since the Twin Falls Police Department alerted the community to a shooting at a city skate park, and to my knowledge, no official arrest has been made in the case to date. This raises the question as to whether or not Twin Falls parks should be monitored by surveillance cameras.

Many of you in the Magic Valley received word on April 7 from Twin Falls police that a teenage male sustained a single gunshot wound sometime near 9 P.M. at Harmon Park, which is a popular skateboarding location. Authorities are still looking for the individual(s) responsible for the shooting, which resulted in the victim being rushed to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center.

Whether it's to buy or sell drugs or engage in other illegal activities, city parks are known to attract the criminal element. The Harmon Park incident from a week ago is just the most recent example of how the presence of cameras at these locations could aid local police in identifying perpetrators of violent crime. While violence at city parks isn't routine in Twin Falls, there have been a number of cases over the years where these types of acts have occurred and left police with very little to go on.

Rock Creek Park has seen its share of criminal activity, including a 2018 incident in which a woman was chased by a man with a knife. Cameras in parks are common in some cities in the state, but there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency to equip these locations with more surveillance. Seeing as these are popular hangouts for kids in Twin Falls, I would argue we should be doing everything possible to provide additional safety measures for them.

If you have any information that can assist the Twin Falls Police Department with their investigation into last week's shooting at Harmon Park, please call 208-735-4357.

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