After shooting near TD Garden, Boston police union president blasts city for cutting staffing
The union that represents Boston Police officers is criticizing the city for cutting staff during what is historically a busy season for violence.
On Tuesday night after 10:45 p.m., Boston police responded to a report of shots fired on Friend Street in the city's West End, just around the corner from TD Garden.
The sound of shots sent people running into Sullivan's Tap for safety, which was caught on surveillance camera.
TD Garden shooting
Boston Police say no one was actually shot or hurt and no arrests have been made.
On Wednesday morning, the glass was still missing from the doors of the Hotel Indigo, and two apparent bullet holes in the hotel's entryway remained marked with evidence tape from the night before. Boston police had also investigated an SUV parked outside the hotel on Tuesday, which they say had a shattered back window.
"It sounded like fireworks kind of," said Parham Pourdashti, a guest at the hotel.
The area is full of tourists. One man who was on a cross-country road trip with friends told WBZ-TV his friends from back home in California had called him to check in.
"She said, 'I was worried when you guys were in Chicago because you hear about a lot of people getting shot in that city … The last thing I was worried about was Boston,'" Todd Lamoureaux said. "And I just kind of laughed and said, 'Well in Chicago our hotel didn't get shot up.'"
Union concerned over staffing
The president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, the union that represents Boston Police officers, told WBZ the shooting could have been avoided.
"It should be a concern of every citizen or visitor in Boston," Larry Calderone of the BPPA said.
Calderone told WBZ that Boston police have cut down on overtime in recent weeks in an effort to save money. As a result, he said, some patrol shifts are down 30% of their usual staff.
"Having more police patrol the streets would prevent a situation like what happened last night," Calderone said. "It's simple. It's a deterrent. When you have a police officer in uniform, you have bad actors less likely to act. They're not going to fire a weapon if there's a police car on the corner. If you have the same officer walking the same beat and patrolling the same area, you have a deterrent. You have the presence of police officers which does deter crime."
Calderone said summers are notoriously violent, and now is not the time to cut staff.
"It just doesn't make sense to have less police officers on the street. It makes Boston less safe," he said.
WBZ reached out to the Boston Police Department for a comment on staffing, but have not yet received a response.
