Residents of a popular Southern California city are nervous amid a wave of violence

Following a wave of violent incidents in Santa Monica, residents and city officials are expressing serious concerns, with the city’s mayor calling for emergency funds, more police and state assistance.

“There are beautiful things in the city, but we are losing it,” said Christina Tullock, who lives on the border between Santa Monica and Venice.

Tullock told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that she regularly sees one violent attack after another and believes the issues causing the problems are mental health and drug related.

“You can have as much oversight as possible, but the police can’t do anything until something happens,” she explained. “What I would like is for something to happen preventively, which is to help people who are sick, to help people who are on drugs.”

Still, as crowds flock to the Santa Monica Pier ahead of next weekend’s Fourth of July holiday, the city has been the scene of a series of violent attacks since the first of the year.

Just this weekend, five men were arrested after a huge fight broke out on the beach, leaving one person stabbed and another with a broken ankle. Both victims were hospitalized.

Earlier this week, 32-year-old Jawann Dwayne Garnett, who police say is homeless, was arrested after violent attacks on three beachgoers. He has since been charged with attempted rape and attempted murder.

On June 11, a 26-year-old man at Jameson’s Pub on Main Street in Santa Monica punched and killed the bar manager after he was one of several customers asked to leave the establishment.

In late May, a 39-year-old man believed to be homeless was arrested after allegedly attacking a 73-year-old woman, leaving her with minor injuries. Passersby also said the suspect was seen trying to punch other people in the area.

Nearly a week and a half before the attack, 29-year-old Larry Ameyal Cedeno was arrested after what appears to be a completely unprovoked attack near Parking Structure 7 in the 1500 block of 4.^th Street that left two people hospitalized with stab wounds, one of them in critical but stable condition.

On May 16, a Venice resident jogging in the 2000 block of Ocean Front Walk in Santa Monica was violently dragged by his hair and pulled toward the bathrooms. Police said 48-year-old Malcolm Ward, on parole, intended to sexually assault the victim.

He was arrested and has since been charged with attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to commit rape.

Some people who frequent Santa Monica, like Howard Zickefose, said it’s confusing and disconcerting to be in the city and suddenly be caught up in a swarm of police activity.

“We were having a great time, coming back from shopping at Trader Joes in the middle of the day yesterday and we got surrounded by police,” he said of Saturday’s beach brawl. “They were driving in all directions and there were helicopters flying.”

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Santa Monica resident Elizabeth Brown warned tourists in the area to be aware of what and who is around them during their visit.

“If you live in a really safe environment and you come here, you just need to be a little more aware of your surroundings,” she explained.

Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock says the problems facing Santa Monica are happening in Los Angeles.

“Some of the same crime patterns, some of the same robberies, some of the same behaviors come from unbalanced homeless people who use drugs or have mental illness,” he said. “This [also] it comes from people crossing the border and saying, ‘Hey, Santa Monica is profitable, let’s make some of our money here.’”

Brock’s plan is to saturate commercial and residential areas with police officers in order to stop crimes before they happen, but he said he needs funding to do that. He adds that he also needs help from the court system, the District Attorney’s Office and the state of California.

According to the mayor, however, the city council rejected his proposal to remove a few million dollars from the city budget for emergency security use over the summer. That additional funding, he said, could go toward increasing patrols in the area and hopefully alleviating the concerns of people, like Matt Gotzka, on the boardwalk.

“You don’t want to hear about attempted stabbings and violence against people on the beach,” Gotzka told KTLA. “You’re here trying to have fun.”

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