‘Struggling to combat this’
Police: 2 men killed in separate shootings early Sunday
Two men were killed in Boston early Sunday morning, said police who are investigating the separate shootings in Roxbury and Mattapan.
These fatal shootings come amid an uptick in violence in the city, as advocates call for more funding for violence prevention programs in Boston.
At about 12:49 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to a call for a person shot on Adams
Street in Roxbury.
On arrival, officers found a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The man, suffering life-threatening injuries, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Then about an hour later, at 1:58 a.m., officers responded to a call for a person shot on Regis Road in Mattapan.
On arrival, officers found a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The man was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement, “The health and safety of our residents remains our top priority, and we will never accept any level of violence as normal. Our collective work, from prevention to intervention and support services, will not be finished until the number of victims injured and families mourning the loss of a loved one as a result of violence is zero.”
Activist Monica CannonGrant, founder of Violence in Boston Inc., on Sunday urged the city and state to put more funding into violence prevention programs.
“The focus needs to be on prevention instead of reactionary,” she said. “We’re struggling to combat this on the ground.”
Ruth Zakarin, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, also said communities need to invest more in prevention programs.
“There are programs that have been helpful, so we need to invest in those to reach as many people as possible,” Zakarin said. “Folks are going through a lot of trauma and stress right now, and they can’t access the supports they need.”
The fatal shootings come amid an outbreak of violence in the city over the past several weeks.
Last Thursday into Friday, 6 people were hospitalized in five separate shootings, according to police.
And during the long weekend including July 4, five people were killed, nine shot nonfatally and three stabbed nonfatally, according to Boston Police logs. The previous week going back to the weekend before that saw two people killed, 11 nonfatally shot and nine nonfatally stabbed.