1 of 15 2 of 15 3 of 15 4 of 15 5 of 15 6 of 15 7 of 15 8 of 15 9 of 15 10 of 15 11 of 15 12 of 15 13 of 15 14 of 15 15 of 15
John and Ken broadcast live to help take back Ventura following the tragic story of Anthony Mele Jr. the man who was murdered in a random act of violence perpetrated by a Jamal Jackson, a homeless man police had deemed 'harmless' only a few hours before.
If you're not familiar with the story, two weeks ago, Anthony Mele Jr. was dining with his wife and 5-year-old daughter at Aloha Steakhouse in Ventura when a homeless man walked in and plunged a knife into his neck - all while Mele's daughter sat on his lap.
There were plenty of compelling moments from Thursday's broadcast, including an eyewitness account of the stabbing by John, who was dining at the steakhouse with his wife and friends from San Diego the night Mele was killed.
"My wife and I were in the restaurant when it actually happened. You know, it was just a normal night. I had some budding up from San Diego, we were just chilling, eating dinner. We were just getting up to leave ... and then of all a sudden you heard this big commotion and we look over to see what's going on, like almost a fight or something."
That's when all hell broke loose, John says as he described the frenzy that followed.
"And then all of a sudden, you hear simultaneously screaming, the wife screaming, 'Oh my God! He just stabbed my husband!' Then someone screaming 'He's got a knife, he's got a knife!'
"All these dudes that were right there at the table, grabbed these chairs and picked them up over their heads and 'Hey, get out of here, get out of here!' And they corralled him out the door there."
But as John and Ken, the worst part about all this, is how the city and Ventura police did nothing to stop this man from hurting anyone, despite the fact that they were alerted to Jackson's erractic behavoir hours before he allegedly stabbed Mele Jr.
One woman told John that she was the person who made the initial call to police about Jackson's weird and aggressive behavior.
"He was harassing people. He was yelling at people. He was asking them for cigarettes, he was scaring women and children that were running by, the joggers running by ... he was very aggressive," Stacy said.
"I was sitting at the bench and he was down there by the thing, he was staring at me, and I'm going, 'What is he staring at?' So I got on my phone and dialed 911."
But 911 never showed. Stacy says she recognized Jackson as a regular to the promenade and said that day, her gut told her something was very wrong with him.
"I knew that guy was going to do something stupid."
But as one resident in Ventura tells John and Ken, problems with the homeless in the city isn't a new problem and in fact, it's only been getting progressively worse. Kristine Stahl told the guys about friends of hers that were accosted as they were leaving the Aloha Steakhouse with a box of food.
"They were leaving with a box of food and they were accosted by two groups of homeless - I'll call them thugs, they were younger and they were thugs. And they demanded the food. Wanted the box of food ,and said pretty much if you don't give it to us, they were going to kick his ass, the father's ass right in front of his 10-year-old daughter."
You can listen to the entire show as John and Ken take back Ventura below. If you'd like to help the family of Anthony Mele Jr, you can donate to a GoFundMe account that has been established to help his wife and 5-year-old daughter deal with the unexpected expenses.