A heavy police presence flooded Chalan Pulan in Yigo Tuesday morning, as authorities launched a death investigation into a fatal stabbing the night before.

The Guam Police Department confirms that around 10:21 p.m. Monday, officers responded to the stabbing. 

Family members were already rushing the 15-year-old victim to get help, when Guam fire crews intercepted them along Route 9. 

The teen was transported to Guam Regional Medical City, where he was pronounced dead at 11:09 p.m.

A source close to the case tells KUAM the minor was allegedly stabbed multiple times by an intoxicated individual, believed to be a neighbor.

Yigo Vice Mayor Pedro Blas expressed his condolences to the family.

“To the family, we’re just very sorry, and our deepest condolences for the loss of the child, and if we can help in any way, no questions asked, I’ll put it upon myself to make sure that we can assist the family if they need.” said Blas. 

Blas also weighed in on the violence, saying the incident highlights the urgent need for stronger police presence in Yigo.

“How many more? How many more violent acts do we need for our community to say–hey, enough is enough, we need more police presence up in our village,” said Blas. 

He noted that discussions are already underway about building a police precinct in the village, but said residents need support now.

“There were talks–Senator Gumataotao pushing for the police precinct to be built in Yigo, and I know that won’t happen overnight–but there again is another encouragement to be more present in our village. We have offered—we have a space in the Yigo mayor's office that would have been a koban for the police department–but they went a step ahead and said okay, we’re gonna build a full-on precinct because we need more police presence up here. And although that is a great idea, it prolongs the police presence in our village. We do see some police officers, but how often do we see them in the rural areas on secondary roads? We can see them patrolling Route 1, but are they fully patrolling our village, and that’s what leads to our residents not feeling safe,” added Blas.

Blas urged residents to take part in keeping the community safe.

“It can happen anywhere, it could happen all over this island, that’s the world we’re living in now–so, for those who don’t feel safe, that should just be our call to help enforce the power of our island to help protect us so that way, if we see more police presence, we will feel a bit safer. Ultimately, we highly encourage our community to be better, to think better, and to try to refrain from violent acts such as that. I think that’s the main thing there: one of the things that we see in Yigo, right, is these high crime rates–whether it be theft, violence, and stuff like that, I think it all correlates with the lack of police presence up there,” said Blas. 

The vice mayor also left this message of action. 

“To those in power, the powers that be, this is an event that happens more often that not. The longer that we let people get away with things like this, the more we’ll see it in the community and then it reaches down to our youth–those who have lots of years ahead of them,” the Vice Mayor said. 

Meanwhile, the Guam Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division has been activated as the case remains open. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Guam police or leave an anonymous tip at www.guam.crimestoppersweb.com.