Donna Martin has been at her son Christopher Charles Martin’s bedside for the past seven weeks. The 27-year-old Christopher is able to move his limbs, and Martin believes he is trying to soothe her when he hears her cry.
Martin said, “Christopher has always been a guardian.” As far as I know, he’s always been very protective of me and my family.
The Donn Sway, Christopher founded a business to assist boys who want to play college football in putting together their college application documents. His grandmother “in her final stages of dementia,” and his younger brother Tyler, who suffers from schizophrenia, were two of the many people he cared for, Martin said.
A follow home robberies trend has been terrorizing Los Angeles residents since last year when Christopher was shot in the head as he tried to protect his friends.
Attackers are striking people as they leave high-end restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs, and are known for their precision and brutality. Spotters — people who look for well-dressed individuals with expensive jewelry, luxury cars, or Rolex watches — are often sent by the perpetrators in order to alert other gang members who entrap the victims to their presence.
Captain Jonathan Tippet, head of the LAPD’s Follow-Home Robbery Task Force, told The Post that “in many cases, the victims are not even having a chance to comply.” A pistol-whip is used on them. They’re being tackled, punched, hit, and whipped.
According to Detective Daryn Dupree of the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Special Section, one of the robbers shot Martin in the head after he tried to stop them. According to Dupree, “We thought Christopher was going to die that night.” Christopher’s survival has exceeded medical expectations.
To celebrate the birthday of an ex-UC Davis football player who he had mentored, Martin traveled from San Diego to Los Angeles on April 15 from San Diego. In light of the crime wave, Dupree said, “Coming from San Diego, Christopher may not have realized what the temperature is here.”
During the year 2021, the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division noticed a significant increase in robberies in which multiple armed suspects coordinated to ambush victims, Tippet said. As many as 18 gangs from South LA are involved, according to the man.
There has never been a case like this in my 34 years with the LAPD,” said Tippet, “with people in large groups… I’ve never seen this type of criminal behavior.” up to five cars full of people, many of whom appear to be armed and are working together to target individuals.
165 “follow-home” attacks have occurred since January 2021, according to Tippet, with 111 occurring in the final four months of last year and 89 occurring so far this year. Since then, Tippet has formed the Follow-Home Robbery Task Force to combat the growing problem.
Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, and the Wilshire District, which includes the upscale shopping district of Melrose, have been the hardest hit. Tippet said that tourists from Israel, Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Maryland, Florida, Philadelphia, and Detroit have been among the victims.
With 66 robberies involving “so many vehicles” in the first four months of 2019, the Los Angeles Police Department has seen “some reduction” in the number of follow-home robberies. (There have been fifteen in the last four weeks.)
At least in part, according to Tippet, the “follow-home” crime surge can be traced back to the unwillingness of DA George Gascon’s office to seek the harshest possible sentences for gang members. “Gang and gun enhancements,” which allow prosecutors to seek longer prison terms for crimes that cause grave bodily injury, are provisions he has moved to deny. Bail requirements have also been lowered due to changes in state legislation.
According to Tippet, “state policy is allowing violent criminals to post bail and not return to court for months, and during that time we know many of them are engaging in violent crimes.” After committing the same types of violent crimes while free on bail, some of those previously arrested have been re-arrested, according to police.
Victims of the violent follow home robberies trend have been minorities.
There is a stinging irony in this “social justice” reluctance, Tippet said, when the majority of victims of the violent follow home robberies trend have been minorities, Tippet claimed. A total of 45 percent have been Black, 11 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian and 20 percent white, according to the LAPD’s most recent figures.
More than two-thirds of the victims of violent armed gang robberies since January 2021 have been Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American, Tippet said. While Gascon claims to be bringing social justice, he isn’t providing minorities with safety and protection.
“We are deeply concerned” about follow-home robberies, according to a statement from Gascon’s office, and to suggest that his office’s policies might be contributing to the uptick in violent crime is “dishonest and preposterous.”
People aren’t saying, according to Gascon’s office, “I’ll do something just to avoid getting 40 years in prison, but I won’t do anything just to avoid getting 10 or 20 years in prison. Because of this, “we are working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that people do not get caught,” said one official.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has come under fire for a lack of enforcement of existing laws and for making changes to the law.
After 47 years in business, Los Angeles jeweler Howard Rudich, 79, recently announced his retirement due to an increase in break-ins and home invasions. “The gangs are emboldened to follow individual citizens… because penalties are so relaxed, they are more likely to rob jewelry stores.” It’s a pandemic, and leftist policies are to blame. If you’re looking for crazy, California is the state to visit.
According to Dupree, “Two of the guys wore a lot of jewelry.” “Gold. Christopher was completely bare-headed. To no avail, Christopher’s efforts They were there, however, in order to steal the jewels.
It was “less expensive” to park at the Sunset Strip lot where Christopher’s group had left the club at 3 a.m., according to Dupree, than at the club.
In a frenzied rush, the suspects ran up to Christopher, who had arrived in his own car, shouting, “Give me the jewelry!” as he stood outside the SUV. According to Dupree’s account of the incident, “Christopher yelled, ‘No! Stop!'” when one of them pointed a gun at the driver.
While Martin’s attempt to intervene was “heroic,” Dupree said, “We advise people to give up their jewelry or watches.” Martin is a “special young man.””
“I do respect Christopher’s attempt to defend his friends—that shows the kind of person he is,” he continued.
Donna says her son is an “instinctively good person,” and that he would have helped anyone in his position.
“Tell me about your situation,” he asked as they sat down to dinner in 2019, and she remembered that Christopher “had a homeless man sit down with us.”
Christopher gave the man, who was about his age, a suit to wear so he could apply to be a door-to-door salesman while he stayed with him. Martin is convinced that Christopher would have assisted his assailants if they had simply approached him and his companions without apprehension.
As Martin proudly exclaimed, “My son is a college-educated, kind, and sensitive soul.” There was a way for them to ask for his assistance by saying, “You seem to be doing well in life,” and he would have provided it.
“Forgiveness will be easier once [the perpetrators] are caught,” she said, expressing her anger.
According to her, everyone involved in the crime should face criminal charges.
On the GoFundMe page to help cover Christopher’s medical expenses, his family speculated that the attackers “maybe didn’t have everything my son had, including a father, but that doesn’t excuse what they did and what the District Attorney of Los Angeles [County] is doing for my son to be in this situation.
Every person, no matter who they are, should be sentenced according to the severity of their crimes,” he said. “The life of my son, and the life of any human being, is worth more than property.”