BOSTON (WHDH) - Authorities are concerned about a recent uptick in violence in the city after a double shooting turned deadly in Jamaica Plain on Thursday night.
The double shooting was the fourth homicide the city has seen over the past six days. Several people were arrested by officers responding to the shooting.
“No neighborhood should have to go through this type of trauma,” Police Commissioner William Gross said at the scene.
Gross has spoken out about the spat in violence and his opposition to a court decision that has called for a release of inmates during the coronavirus pandemic.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who’s advocated for the release of more inmates during the pandemic, says she is on the same page as the commissioner. She said the rise in crime is not tied to that.
“I think with the global pandemic we have high rates of unemployment, we have food and housing insecurity,” she said. “We are looking at all of the accelerants to violence that we might be seeing here.”
Gross recently said he believes that there is a disconnect between those ruling in favor of the release of inmates and the public.
Rollins said though her role differs from Gross, that those decisions to release inmates are ultimately up to the judges.
“I defer to sometimes certainly what the commissioner and other members of law enforcement that are first responders say, but ultimately we have to do what we believe is right and just and ethical,” she said.
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