Week Of Bloodshed Leaves Boston Neighborhoods Frightened, Mourning
BOSTON (CBS) - It's a startling number. A stabbing on Boston's Esplanade marks the eleventh violent incident in the city in just five days. Two people are left dead.
One man is fighting for his life after another stabbing hours earlier Friday, just steps from Boston City Hall Plaza.
"I said oh my God it's getting closer and closer to home," said Mary Burke who sat on her Duke Street porch in Mattapan, looking across the street at candles flickering in memory of a 25-year-old fashion model, Corey Thompson, shot to death Sunday.
The next day there was an exchange of gunfire on Penhallow Street, in which police shot and killed 19-year-old Jaymil Ellerbe. The District Attorney has an independent investigator looking into it.
On WGBH Radio Friday, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross promised to be open. "You have to be transparent as much as you can without jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation and let the folks know what happened out there," he said.
Monica Cannon-Grant is an anti-violence activist startled by the sudden uptick in shootings and stabbings as summer just starts to heat up.
"The conversation is always structured what's happening in communities of color, but the last stabbing happened right outside of City Hall," she said. "I think until we realize that this is a city-wide issue, and not just a black community issue, that we have to address it."