Although Longview police continue to investigate a fight that broke out Sunday night outside of Longview City Hall, few witnesses or participants are willing to work with investigators, Sgt. Chris Blanchard said Thursday afternoon.
“As of right now, very few people want to cooperate, and we don’t have enough information to charge anybody,” Blanchard said.
Officers were called to the scene Dec. 22 after receiving a report about seven or eight people fighting, Blanchard said. There were about 30 to 40 people present in a “chaotic scene” by the time officers arrived.
Blanchard said that very few people at the incident were willing to assist officers. However, officers were able to determine from the various statements that someone allegedly threw a tool of some kind through a truck window, so the owners of that truck came back to confront a group of transients staying in the area, Blanchard said.
A fight developed from that confrontation, Blanchard added, in which at least one person was punched in the face.
Jennifer Langley, a volunteer at First Christian Church’s severe weather shelter who witnessed the incident, said Friday that she and several others who were threatened or attacked have given statements or have been trying to give statements to police, including on that night.
She said the young men who came to the camp were at fault in the attack. One of the young men threatened to “kill us all” while brandishing a weapon, Langley said.
However, she added that she understands that “it was chaos that night” and that the department needs to take its time investigating what happened.
“I have to have patience to let them do it appropriately,” she said. “I do believe that Longview PD is now going to listen and is going to investigate this appropriately.”
Police have identified people involved in the fight but haven’t developed any suspects, Blanchard said. He said the door remains open for charges from the fight or for whoever threw the tool.
“It’s not a crime to confront people,” but it is a crime to assault, threaten harm or engage in disorderly conduct, Blanchard said. He cautioned that the case remains open and police have not yet released a finding of who was or wasn’t at fault.
Lisa Lee Iacuzzi, who was helping others move to the new site Thursday, witnessed the fight and said someone could have “really easily” gotten killed.
“All of a sudden, the police came screaming down this road, and thank God,” Iacuzzi said. “Thank God someone called the police before the incident got really bad.”
Iacuzzi described seeing a group of about 10 men “mouth off” at a volunteer, who asked them to leave. They then parked nearby, took their shirts off and start attacking the campers. They hit one person in the head with a baseball bat three times, leaving a dent in his head, Iacuzzi said.
“All I did was scream, ‘No, no, no,’ ” Iacuzzi said. “Luckily that woman who was a volunteer called the police. … If the police didn’t show up when they did, he probably would be dead.”
The City Hall camp may not be around past Friday, when an ordinance banning camping on city right of way during the day goes into effect. A designated campsite at an empty lot near Alabama Street and Oregon Way should be ready Friday morning for people to move into, and will include portable toilets, wash stations and garbage service.
The camping site by City Hall was sparse Thursday afternoon, and most of the tents that had previously lined 16th Avenue and Broadway had been taken down. Many of the people remaining were in the process of packing up their things.
The new location is much safer, Iacuzzi said, adding that the campers plan on cleaning up the City Hall camping site.
“We don’t want to leave it a mess. Somebody donated like 32 trash bags. There’s two empty barrels up there, and we’re going to fill them. We just want to be treated with respect. I’ve been trying to teach non-violence to these guys … and even non-violent language. We have to police each other up there, because we’re going to be alone with ourselves.”
Campers on Thursday said they were getting tired of moving but were happy to have a designated site to go to.
“We’re trying to move as fast as we can,” said Angela Sprague. “I had a little bit of anxiety about it … (but) somewhere is better than nowhere.”
