In Pomona, victims don’t even get a sentence. No report. No record. No responsibility.
For the last four years, The Pomonan has tracked homicides in our city because no one else consistently has. Our Homicide Reports for 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025 have served as a quiet but critical record of loss, names rarely given, but lives never ignored. We track dates. Streets. The silence. And we do it without a newsroom, without a budget, without institutional protection.
But this summer, something changed. Or rather, it didn’t.
On July 23, 2025, multiple residents reported an alleged homicide near East Holt. Witnesses described seeing heavy police presence and crime scene tape, yet no public statement was ever issued. Unlike earlier cases this year, the Pomona Police Department has withheld even the most basic details: the date, location, the fact that someone may have died.
When a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request asking for basic summary information on all homicides from January 1 to July 31, 2025 I didn’t ask for anything sensitive. No autopsies. No suspect files. Just the information they used to provide:
Date and time
General location
Victim demographics
Case status
Assigned unit
Incident number
They denied the request.
The reason? A vague invocation of Government Code § 7923.600, usually reserved for withholding investigative files. But full investigation were not requested. What was asked for is what they usually release themselves on Nixle.
In fact, the Pomona Police Department posted a homicide report as recently as April 25, and even reported an attempted homicide on August 14. The contradiction is glaring.
When Transparency Becomes Optional
It’s not just about a missed press release. It’s about trust. It’s about a public institution deciding when the public gets to know someone has been killed in their community.
Pomona has a long, uncomfortable relationship with image management. What doesn’t get reported still happened—but if it’s not acknowledged, is it easier to pretend we're safer than we are? Is that the calculation?
When an app built for lost dogs and lawn sales out performs on informing the public than City Hall, something’s wrong.
What Comes Next
The City of Pomona and its Police Department were legally required to respond to the public records request within 10 days, as mandated by California law. More than 25 days have passed.
The matter is now under escalation, with the First Amendment Coalition and legal advocates formally informed. If necessary, I’ll file a writ of mandate in Superior Court. Not because I want to, but because I shouldn’t have to fight for information the public is entitled to.
Because if they don’t have to tell us someone died in our city, what else can they keep from us?
If someone in your family has been lost to violence this year, the City of Pomona may not be publicly acknowledging it. That silence speaks volumes.
Julian Lucas is a photographer, writer and provocateur committed to documenting what power tries to hide. Julian is the founder of The Pomonan and founder and owner of Mirrored Society, a bookshop dedicated to fine art books. His work, on the page, in the darkroom, and in the streets, documents what institutions try to forget. He publishes what others try to bury.
