Most of Los Santos is gone. The official story of the last two days has been one of silence: a government that left without telling anyone, a death toll nobody in authority will confirm, and a state that has not said a word since.
But inside the evacuation zone, while the ground was still moving and gunfire echoed across the city, a handful of people stayed behind to pull others out. Weazel News has spent the night speaking to survivors, rescuers and families now sleeping in Paleto Bay. These are some of the names they keep mentioning.
Chief Cole Walker, Los Santos Fire Department
When the first reports of trapped residents started landing, Fire Chief Cole Walker did not wait for a briefing. He went in with his crews. Several witnesses told Weazel News that the chief was shot multiple times while working near a collapsed building, as armed groups took advantage of the chaos in the streets.
By every account he should have stayed down. He did not. Firefighters who were with him describe the chief getting back on his feet, refusing to be taken out of the area, and carrying on searching the rubble with his wounds still being dressed.
“He was bleeding and he was still giving orders,” said one firefighter, who asked not to be named. “He kept saying there were people under there. He was right. We got them out.”
Residents in east Los Santos say they owe their lives to Walker and his crews, who worked through fires, gas leaks and gunfire for hours on end. The Los Santos Fire Department has not released an official statement on his condition, but colleagues say he is still working.
Ethel, Los Santos Police Department
One of the most talked about names among survivors is an officer known to them only as Ethel. Weazel News has not been able to confirm her surname.
Several people told us that Ethel stood between armed attackers and a group of civilians during the worst of the unrest, and used her firearm to protect herself and the people around her. Those who were there say she saved lives.
Weazel News now understands that she has reportedly been suspended over the incident. Survivors we spoke to were angry. “She did what anyone would want a police officer to do,” one woman told us from a shelter in Paleto Bay. “She kept us alive, and now she is the one in trouble.”
We have repeatedly asked the Los Santos Police Department to confirm the suspension and explain the decision. At the time of publishing, the department has not responded.
Deputy Allegra Roux and Captain James Kellow, Sheriff’s Department
Across the county, the Los Santos Sheriff’s Department took on a large share of the evacuation. Deputies escorted convoys north along the Great Ocean Highway, cleared blocked roads and went back into the city time after time for people who could not get out on their own.
Deputy Allegra Roux was named again and again by evacuees as one of the deputies who stayed on the streets the longest, directing traffic out of the city and helping the injured and elderly onto transport.
Captain James Kellow spoke to Weazel News this morning. He was quick to share the credit.
“This was a team effort,” Captain Kellow said. “Every deputy, every firefighter, every medic and every person who stopped to help a neighbour. Nobody did this alone.”
“We lost good people”
The captain did not hide the cost. He confirmed that the Sheriff’s Department lost several officers in a number of armed altercations inside the city as the unrest spread. He did not give a number and asked for the families to be given privacy.
“We lost good people doing their jobs,” he said. “They went towards the danger so other people did not have to. We will not forget them.”
A motel room for almost everyone
There was one piece of good news. Captain Kellow said the wide majority of residents have now been relocated to Paleto Bay.
He also confirmed something several families had already told us: he has personally paid for almost every evacuee to stay in a motel room out of his own money, and says he will keep doing so until the state government gives people a clear answer on what happens next.
“People have lost their homes. Some have lost family. The least they deserve is a bed and a door that locks,” he said. “Until someone in charge tells these people when they can go home, they are not sleeping in their cars.”
Families in Paleto Bay described deputies handing out room keys, blankets and hot food through the night. “We did not know where we were going to sleep,” said one father of two. “Then a deputy walked up with a key and said it was already paid for.”
Still nothing from the state
While first responders are being thanked by name, the state government is still saying nothing. It has not released an update since the evacuation began. It has not confirmed the death toll, now feared to be at least 600, and has given no date for when residents may return to Los Santos.
Weazel News has put questions to the Governor’s office about the evacuation, the death toll, the military presence in the city and whether anyone will repay the people now paying for evacuees out of their own pockets. We have had no reply.
Until then, it is people like Chief Walker, Ethel, Deputy Roux and Captain Kellow who are holding this city together.
Know someone who stepped up?
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