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Gunfire in front of Roxbury pool was aimed at people entering memorial for man murdered last week
By adamg on Tue, 08/18/2015 - 1:04am
The Globe reports the gunfire that forced the evacuation of the DCR pool at MLK Boulevard and Washington Street Monday afternoon was from two guys calmly shooting at people arriving at the Melnea Cass center for a remembrance for Angel Oller, one of two men shot to death in Egleston Square last week.
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Comments
Can we ban gangs already? Or
Can we ban gangs already? Or at least prosecute them like we give a damn?
We have a major gang war going on and the city and media is pretending it doesn't exist. As if somehow all this carnage is random and the fault of guns on the street and not horrible rival criminal cartels worthy of the terrorist label.
Uh (2)
Shall we ban book clubs too? Or at least curtail their consumption of wine?
Laws against street gangs
Laws against street gangs typically turn on the criminal conspiracy element of the association in question. For example, here is NH's version:
RSA 651:6, I-a(c) "Criminal street gang'' means a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group of 3 or more persons, which has as one of its primary objectives or activities the commission of criminal activity, whose members share a common name, identifying sign, symbol, physical marking, style of dress, or use of hand sign, and whose members individually or collectively have engaged in the commission, attempted commission, solicitation to commit, or conspiracy to commit 2 or more the following offenses, or a reasonably equivalent offense in another jurisdiction, on separate occasions within the preceding 3 years:
(1) Violent crimes, as defined in RSA 651:5, XIII;
(2) Distribution, sale, or manufacture of a controlled drug in violation of RSA 318-B:2;
(3) Class A felony theft;
(4) Unlawful sale of a pistol or revolver; or
(5) Witness tampering.
Is this completely out of control?
Seems like every day produces multiple shootings or stabbings. Do the cops have a handle on this or not?
Uh
There's legitimately no way for police to completely prevent random acts of violence; all they can do is respond and investigate to the best of their ability. This is a cultural issue, and although I'm sure some victims are indeed innocent bystanders, we need to stop being so naive about the rest...
Rev. Eugene Rivers put it rather well
“When a 14-year-old kid, has a 40-member gang and hasn’t shot anybody yet, technically that’s not a law enforcement issue … we gotta intercept that child where grandma is 35, mom is 15, and Junebug is 3. That’s not a public safety issue. That’s not a policing issue.”
Is that the same Eugene Rivers
Who doesn't like to vote in elections:
http://wgbhnews.org/post/rev-eugene-rivers-defends-his-lack-voting-record
And likes to shake down transportation companies:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/22/keolis-shakedown-now-subjec...
Yeah, he's a legit voice around here.
He is a fool
But his comment is spot on!
Well
Say what you want, but Rev Racecard McShakedown is actually right in this particular case.
When a gunman clearly targets
When a gunman clearly targets the mourners of a gunned down person from a week ago, they don't call that "random".
I think the first comment is implying that these gunmen or gunwomen are gang-related and the cops should be up on that ish.
By random I meant
It's nearly impossible to predict exactly where and when this type of violence will occur, not that victims are being randomly chosen.
However
This wasn't a random act of violence.
The police generally are up on things, but I suspect there must be more outside forces that they haven't got a handle on.
Funeral
Do they have the right boy... The wake for this poor boy was at Brady Fallon at Forest Hills,.Funeral at St Thomas on South and the cemetery in Roslindale.... unless maybe he played ball over there .. which makes it even more horrifying..
I've updated the original post
As the Globe reports, it wasn't a funeral procession, it was people at the center for a remembrance for Angel Oller.
It really is tough
Violence in the urban communities is a real shame. Police/city officials/clergy you name it have been trying to address the black on black violence for years. The message just isn't getting through to all. I'm sure if there are any new ideas they would be welcome as it seems like an uphill battle.
Use the same tactics used to
Use the same tactics used to break up the mafia on street gangs. Organized crime statutes are on the books and should be used to prosecute criminal enterprises out of existence.
Give it time
O-fish and Mark will probably log on later with some sizzling hot ideas about how to solve this.
I think deportation will be on the table, even for American citizens and maybe something gleaned from the Joe Arpaio playbook.
Arpaio
He was born in Springfield, MA.
His mother was likely to have been undocumented, his father apparently listed several different places of birth, conditionally.
In other words, deport him to Italy under the Trump Edict.
Everyone tired from utility details?
Couldn't the gang unit have a couple of undercover cops spare an hour or so to keep an eye on gun magnet events like this one?
The gang unit didn't know
The organizer of the event used his connections to the Governor to take over the building for the day. Site staff; the community board that advises DCR on the facility; street workers; BPD / gang unit... none were informed ahead of time.
Yet the shooters were apparently informed ahead of time
Again -- do the cops have a handle on this wave of violence or not?
Please note that I am not expecting them "to completely prevent random acts of violence." I am hoping that they have a way of reducing the carnage currently ongoing.
They were most certainly
They were most certainly notified days in advance, their response? Someone dropped the ball. Cause who cares about a building full of hispanics & blacks right? bet your ass the funeral & church had plenty cause the Governor was there. t
Gun magnet events?
It's a public swimming pool, on a 93-degree day in August. How exactly is the gang unit going to know to be parked around the corner?
I'm not exactly in the cheering squad for the police, but I spend a fair bit of time in this part of the city (my daughter goes to daycare right down the street, which is why these stories are so infuriating), and BPD is really making an effort to make its presence felt there lately. Details are visible and frequent, and I don't get the feeling that most of the neighborhood is opposed to their presence. Hell, even in the worst parts of H-Block territory, it's mostly senior citizens and folks who have/want nothing to do with the pattern of retaliatory violence being perpetrated by a handful of assholes with guns.
I think
The person you responded to meant the memorial service. in the Rec Building attached to the Pool Building
I have a question
I'm not a lawyer so please don't flame me.
Can't all of the shotspotter systems we have around the city be fitted with cameras? A good number of the residents in these neighborhoods won't talk, but a camera will.
I thought
Those worked on sound waves and need more than one to hear the shots in order to locate the shooting? In other words, I'm not certain a camera would catch it all of the time.
Correct And Privacy
You are correct. They are not line of sight systems. They work by bi- or triangulating the sound origin of the gunshot sound.
You could place cameras all over the place, but they're not going to catch much unless nobody knows they are there. The police don't have the resources for military/CIA grade satellites. And do you really want cameras everywhere? The UK [or rather some in the UK] might be fine with the privacy loss but most Americans are not so keen.
Have you gone through the documentation for the sytem?
I haven't spent much time reading about them. I'm torn on how well they actually work, or how much they actually help. Sure, they tell you there was a shooting and where it was, but not much else, if I'm not mistaken.
What I'm thinking of is more a camera fitted with a sensor and will only activate for a minute or so following a sound similar to a gunshot. The data would have to be downloaded during an investigation, so they won't need constant monitoring.
Would having more cameras actually be a problem? Divan Silva being shot was caught on camera. Even though the video didn't catch the shooter, this makes me think many of these shooters don't care, or don't have the sense to look before they act.
I thought all the
I thought all the shotspotters in the city had cameras. But I could be wrong, for certain.
Or put more cameras in these
Or put more cameras in these hotspots. These idiots aren't even scared of the police, as there is usually a car or two at Washington Park. The crowds really swell in the summer, and there are often other events and basketball games going on (along with double parking and people spilling into the street all afternoon).
Controversial
No cameras on shot spotter but there is something basically called eye in the sky that is a method some cities have been considering to track the perpetrators of crimes to their homes after the crime occurs. It is basically a large camera aray attached to the bottom of an aircraft that takes nearly live video of an entire area (eg a city). It is incredibly low resolution but is sufficient to allow you to locate a car or an individual that was involved in a crime (once it is reported) and to track where that person or car goes so that police can investigate. Controversial with some because of overall privacy concerns but credited by police in test areas with catching people after the act.
Eye in the Sky
Radiolab had a recent story on it. Quite fascinating..