Calls for change after fatal shot
Dorchester grandmother shot dead while sitting on front porch
The day after a 73-yearold grandmother was gunned down while sitting on her own front porch, friends and family of Delois Brown gathered on that same porch to demand justice and an end to the gun violence that continues to tear their community apart.
“This was a grandmother. This was a pillar of our community, someone that everybody in our community loved. This was a woman that fed the homeless, took care of her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren — everybody,” longtime family friend Joao DePina said, speaking to neighbors and community members who crowded in front of Brown’s Olney Street home on Sunday. “It should be unacceptable for anybody … to drive or walk down our street and shoot or kill anyone.”
Police responded to Brown’s home just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, where they found her suffering from gunshot wounds following an eruption of bullets in the street near her home and with her daughter and grandchild just steps away. Brown was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Police had made no arrests as of Sunday evening.
Friends and family clutched candles and bundles of blue and silver balloons, sharing stories of a “community grandmother.”
As they wept, they demanded justice for Brown and called on local elected officials to do more to protect their community.
“It is time for our elected officials — particularly those who are Black — to respond to the unnecessary violence in the community,” said the Rev. Kevin Peterson of the New Democracy Coalition. “I call our new mayor. With all due respect, we need a plan around public safety that addresses racial equity with regard to violence and if we don’t get it, we’ll demand it from other politicians and we will demand that the next mayor who is elected is one who cares and has concerns for a community where we see Black grandmothers murdered in the street. It is embarrassing and we need to do better.”
The Rev. Jacob Urena of The Order of St. Martin de Porres said not to “allow Ms. Brown’s death to go in vain. There has to be justice.” Urena is running for City Council in District 4, which includes the neighborhood where Brown lived.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey, police officials and District Attorney Rachael Rollins have all vowed to solve the crime at a time when gun violence is on the rise around Boston.
“It is outrageous that a grandmother, or any individual, cannot sit on their porch on a beautiful spring day without the fear of being shot to death. This scene is all too familiar,” Janey said in a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday, saying residents “deserve much more.”
“We will find you and hold you accountable,” said Rollins while at the scene on Olney Street Saturday night.
A rise in gun fatalities nationally amid the pandemic was evident on Boston streets last year where police reported a 60% spike in the number of fatal shootings in 2020 through October compared with the same period in 2019.
Standing among the crowd, Sen. Nick Collins, whose district includes Dorchester, said the surge in violence points to “systemic issues at play” particularly in communities that are historically underresourced.
“In order to ensure we don’t have a deadly summer, we need more discussion about resources,” Collins said.
Boston Police have asked anyone with information to call homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can be made via the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 800-494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘ TIP’ to CRIME (27463).