Two stabbed in Chinatown
Hours earlier, the community met to address violence
Trouble struck again downtown, this time in the Theater District, just hours after members of neighboring Chinatown held a meeting to address growing violence.
At 2:19 Wednesday morning, Boston Police responded to a call at the intersection of Stuart and Warrenton where they found a large crowd had amassed surrounding two women who had been stabbed.
Both were transported to area hospitals, one initially listed as having life-threatening injuries, according to police spokesman Sgt. Detective John Boyle. By 2:20 p.m., both women had been upgraded to stable condition and are expected to survive.
There have been no arrests, and the stabbing is under investigation.
The stabbing was the second act of violence that left victims with serious injuries in downtown neighborhoods this week, following an early Sunday morning shooting of two unidentified people in Chinatown.
The alleged shooters were apprehended by police after a chase that led all the way across the N. Washington Street Bridge into Charlestown, where the suspect vehicle flipped onto its side in the grassy middle of the Sullivan rotary and caught fire.
Three men were pulled from the wreckage. One was released from custody after being treated for a hand injury, but the other two — Bunton Mickey Ven, 23, of Lowell, and Alexio Carmello Marquez, 24, of Beverly — were arrested and face serious charges.
That was enough for those in the Chinatown community.
Members of the community, city officials and elected officers joined in a virtual meeting attended by nearly 200 people Tuesday night to address the recent shooting and ongoing violence in the area, according to City Council President Ed Flynn, who represents an area that includes Chinatown.
“What’s important is that we work together as a community working with the police and the residents and advocating for additional public safety resources, along with addressing other challenges that we have in the neighborhood,” Flynn told the Herald Wednesday. “It’s not just calling for additional police presence but maybe with additional cameras, maybe bicycle patrols for police.”
Flynn said he organized the meeting with the Chinatown Resident Association and the Chinatown Neighborhood Council.
It was also attended by representatives of Mayor Michelle Wu’s office and Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who oversees two police districts — A1 and A15 — that includes Chinatown.
“It is critical we continue to partner with residents, the police and community to ensure that our businesses, residents, and visitors are safe when they are in the neighborhood,” Flynn told the Herald in a text.
The Boston Police Department committed to upping patrols in the area and have already assigned additional police there, Boyle said.
Boyle also disclosed that the police had increased their numbers in the neighboring Downtown Crossing following a series of violent and vandalism-related incidents in that neighborhood over the last several weeks that culminated in an alleged teenage mob-beating of a woman on Monday night.
Fatal shootings are down so far this year in Boston, from six at the same point last year to one this year, according to data released April 3 by the Boston Police Department, but non-fatal shootings are up slightly from 25 last year to 29 this year.