A recent rash of violent crime has hammered the short-staffed Antioch Police Department, and things may get worse before they get better.

Last week, Eddie Lee Carr, 27, and Laqinda Q. Modique, 28 were taken into custody on suspicion of felony child endangerment with death and reckless storage of a firearm after their 4-year-old son shot and killed his 2-year-old brother.

On Dec. 6, police responded to a carjacking on Bison Way that left a 40-year-old Oakland man suffering from a gunshot wound in his abdomen. That same day, a 22-year-old man from Pittsburg was shot on the 2300 block of L Street. Police said neither injury was life threatening, and the investigation into both crimes is ongoing.

Also on Dec. 6, a woman was stabbed to death on Delta Fair Boulevard after a dispute in a parking lot. Antioch resident Roy Crites, 56, was arrested on suspicion of committing the homicide.

Then on Tuesday, Antioch police arrested Brentwood resident Lucio Rivera-Avila, 51, on suspicion of homicide after he confessed to hitting a woman with his Nissan Frontier pickup truck and dragging her to death in a parking lot on Cavallo Road. Lt. Leonard Orman said that Rivera-Avila, an El Salvador native, has been transported to Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez.

“At this point, we’re in a position where how much our lack of staffing has affected this is a hard call,” Orman said during a Tuesday press conference. “We’re down 50 employees in this police department and clearly there’s some impact relative to proactive policing and crime prevention. We just can’t do some of the things we were able to do two years ago or two months ago.”

Unfortunately, there’s a chance that the staff could be reduced even further. The Antioch City Council has authorized City Manager Jim Jakel to make $700,000 in budget cuts – roughly $500,000 of which will come from the workforce. Jakel was out of the office earlier this week, and his budgetary decisions have yet to be announced. Antioch Police Chief Jim Hyde said Monday that he hasn’t heard anything yet. The Antioch City Council meets Tuesday to continue exploring how to balance the budget.

So far this year, Antioch has recorded at least 10 homicides. Orman said he’s not yet sure how the department would categorize the shooting of the 2-year-old boy.