Gilbert to add private security at downtown 'Goons' hangout in August

The Gilbert Town Council will consider adding private security guards to take post at two of Gilbert’s downtown parking garages where “Gilbert Goons” have brawled and a man has died. The place has turned into a hangout for teens.

The Town Council will vote on and hold a public hearing at the Aug. 6 meeting to approve additional funding and an expanded agreement with Capitol Guard & Patrol to add two unarmed security guards. The council was expected to make the vote on Tuesday.

Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni made the motion to move it to the next council meeting in August so that residents could make public comments on the expenditure. The rest of the council agreed.

"We have a lot of people who do want to talk about the garage issue. And I would rather have them discuss it before we just vote on it than hear from them afterwards," Bongiovanni said.

Gilbert could spend an additional $160,000 to add the two guards at the parking garages. In total, Gilbert will spend $385,000 on private security.

Gilbert’s downtown has two parking garages on the east and west ends of Vaughn Avenue.

If approved, guards will be on-site Wednesday through Saturday between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Gilbert Police’s bike unit also patrols the garages.

“Over the past seven weeks, Gilbert Police has increased proactive patrolling of our downtown parking garages,” Gilbert spokesperson Kailey Latham said.

Latham also said the town is in the process of upgrading surveillance cameras in the downtown parking garages to allow officers to monitor activity in the garages and respond to incidents in a timely manner.

Gilbert residents have heavily scrutinized the security and safety measures in the garage over the past months. They have pleaded with the town to beef up its camera surveillance and patrol officers.

It’s been common knowledge among residents, that the top floor of the Gilbert garages has become a hangout for teens on the weekends.

In May, a 19-year-old man died after he fell off top of the parking garage onto the sidewalk about 56 feet below. Gilbert Police said in a news release the man was “allegedly intoxicated when he arrived at the parking garage with friends.”

Most notably, Gilbert Goon members assaulted an adult in December 2022 at the town’s downtown garage. Gilbert Police shelved the case for "a lack of investigative leads" until the department reopened it a year later when the department received a video of the incident.

Gage Garrison, 19, Kyler Renner, 18, and a 17-year-old were arrested in connection with the assault in the garage.

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at [email protected] or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gilbert council mulls private security at garages where 'Goons' go