POLICE DISARM FOUR HUB TEENS
Brace for boost in summer violence
The Boston Police Department’s Youth Violence Task Force took loaded guns out of the hands of four Hub juveniles last week as cops bracing for an anticipated summertime spike in street violence continue to focus on preventing the next deadly shooting before it happens.
“It’s a huge initiative for us,” Boston police spokeswoman Rachel McGuire said of the ongoing effort to take guns out of the hands of juveniles.
“It has been one of (Police Commissioner William B. Evans’) major focuses, to get guns off the streets and especially away from kids,” she said.
And though there’s a heightened focus ahead of the summer months, which historically brings a surge of street violence, McGuire said it’s a “year-round effort.”
“This is a part of community policing,” she said. “We want to get in touch with these kids and let them know they don’t need to carry guns. We want to get to the root of the problem and show them they have other options other than the street life.”
Last week’s arrests came on the heels of a Herald special report last month that found the number of juvenile firearm-related arrests in Boston had more than doubled for the first quarter of 2017 over the same period last year.
The more than 19 juvenile firearm related arrests — on charges ranging from possession of an illegal firearm to warrants for prior gunrelated offenses — were up more than 100 percent over the nine such arrests in the first three months of 2016, according to police data.
The startling number bucks an overall downward trend of crime in the city.
The most recent arrest occurred about 10:10 p.m. Friday, when police say task force members nabbed a 17-year-old on Walnut Avenue in Roxbury after he was found with a .45-caliber Ruger handgun and a Taurus 9mm firearm. That arrest came two days after 17-yearold Somerville boy was caught in South Boston with a .40-caliber handgun and three days after a 17-year-old boy with a loaded 9mm Tec-9 and a 16-year-old Braintree boy with a .32-caliber revolver were arrested in Dorchester.
In a statement last night Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, “I commend our Boston police officers for their work in getting these guns off the street and out of the hands of our young people. This goes to show the important and challenging task our officers face everyday to keep our City safe.”