Crime & Safety

Candlelight Vigil Tonight for Critically Injured CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom

The vigil is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., at Ridgeview Park in Fairfield.

A day after CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom was critically injured in a shooting during a routine traffic stop on Interstate Highway 680 near Alamo, a local elementary school is holding a candlelight vigil tonight in support of the officer and his family.

PTA members from Oakbrook Elementary School in Fairfield organized the informal vigil to give an outlet to children and families in the close-knit community of Cordelia where Youngstrom, 37, his wife and four school-age children live, PTA Vice President Susan Young said.

The vigil is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Ridgeview Park at 4950 Silver Creek Road in Fairfield.

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Young said the vigil is a chance for community members to "offer their thoughts and prayers" to Youngstrom's family as he remains on life support.

She said the gathering is also meant to be a time for kids in the community to process their feelings about Tuesday's shooting.

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"It's an opportunity to give them something constructive to do so we aren't knocking on the family's doors...but are still giving support," Young said.

No speakers are planned during the vigil, which is meant simply to be a time of silent reflection, she said.

The Youngstrom family is not expected to attend tonight's event.         

Members of Youngstrom's immediate and extended family rushed to be by his side Tuesday, after what began as a normal day on the job for the seven-year CHP veteran, according to the CHP.

Around 8:30 a.m., Youngstrom attempted to pull over a Jeep Wrangler on southbound Highway 680 near the Livorna Road exit after his partner called to tell him the vehicle had an obstructed license plate, Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jimmy Lee said today.

After the Jeep pulled over to the side of the road and Youngstrom spoke briefly with the driver, identified today as 36-year-old Christopher Boone Lacy of Corning, Calif., Lacy pulled out a semiautomatic gun and shot the officer "out of nowhere," Lee said.

As Youngstrom fell to the ground, his partner, who has not been named, fired into the Jeep multiple times, hitting Lacy.

Both Lacy and Youngstrom were taken to John Muir Medical Center, where Lacy died later that day and the officer remained in critical condition today.

--- Bay City News Service


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