Orange County's Homeless Men On Guard After Three Murders by Suspected Serial Killer

In Santa Barbara in 1992 there was a series of murders of homeless transients that dominated the news at the time. My future wife and I had just moved down there from Fresno. Apparently Santa Barbara, with its temperate climate and laid-back, small town atmosphere, attracted a lot of homeless people. But I can still feel both the shock and rage I felt at the time of the murders. Someone had walked into the park and pumped bullets into the homeless as they slept. It's still unbelievable to me, the enormity of cruelty that is truly pure evil.

I'm reminded of those feelings with news of the rash of murders of homeless men in the O.C.  See Los Angeles Times, "Vulnerable homeless men try to foil Orange County killer":

Cary Singletary is 6-foot-2, an ex-boxer who once worked nightclub security, alternating coffee and water to stay alert through the small hours. Now, encamped on the streets of downtown Santa Ana, he's the unofficial sentry for what he calls "my people," a group of homeless whose wary existence is now shadowed by a new peril: a serial killer.

"Hopefully, they'll get the sick-minded coward," said Singletary 52, speaking of the string of stabbing deaths of middle-aged homeless men in Orange County that began just before Christmas. Singletary stood in a parking lot Thursday night clutching a safety kit — a whistle and flashlight, both donated by the Orange County Rescue Mission.

Singletary said he fears that the killer, who has attacked in neighboring Anaheim, Placentia and Yorba Linda, might strike next in Santa Ana. So he is up all night, drinking coffee, keeping watch for strangers. For company, he listens to R&B on his headphones. He sleeps in two-hour shifts on the public bus.

"If that serial killer wants to come at us, he'll have his hands full," said Singletary, who has been homeless for six months. "We've got some soldiers out here. I'm just one of them. If that whistle goes off, you'll have a whole army of homeless on him."

Across the county, at the urging of authorities, many of the homeless are seeking beds at emergency shelters, or making sure to sleep in groups outdoors, and taking pains to make themselves less conspicuous on the streets and riverbeds. Many say it is just another version of a skill they have practiced for years — survival — in a dangerous milieu. In some cases, efforts to help are complicated by mental illness, paranoia and a deep-seated fatalism.

Continue reading at the link.

More at Orange County Register, "Homeless homicides bring needs to light."

Say a prayer for the safety of these people.