Over the weekend, late-night hours in Vallejo were marred by illegal sideshow activities, causing chaos, noise, and skidmarks in multiple locations. The events took an ominous turn when gunfire erupted, leaving residents and authorities grappling with this increasingly prevalent issue. According to NBC Bay Area, the sideshows began at Lewis Brown and Mini Drives, just off Highway 37, before migrating to Sonoma Boulevard and Lemon Street.
And as reported on Twitter, at least one person was hit by a car performing donuts, with fireworks and laser pointers creating further chaos. The sideshows only ceased when someone fired dozens of shots, prompting the crowd to disperse.
2 overnight sideshows in Vallejo: Lewis Brown & Mini and Lemon & Sonoma Blvd. No signs of @VallejoPd, but there were fireworks, laser pointers and at least one person hit pic.twitter.com/6dahKAjAFo
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) September 11, 2023
Such activities are illegal in Vallejo, where participating, spectating, or even promoting and organizing sideshows have been prohibited by city ordinance for almost two years. Despite these measures, the problem persists, causing distress and potential harm to Vallejo's communities. In response, efforts to address these incidents have been ramped up across the Bay Area, with fines, impounding of cars, and local law enforcement work concerted to tackle this growing concern.
The Regional Sideshow Enforcement Team (RESET), an East Bay law enforcement task force, has adopted a QR code system for residents in unincorporated areas of Alameda County and the cities of Hayward and San Leandro to report sideshow activity. Concurrently, recently NBC Bay Area noted that San Jose's Mayor Matt Mahan has urged social media companies to penalize individuals who organize and promote sideshows on their platforms.
