BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Police say at least five people were wounded and another was killed, following several shootings across the city within an hour Sunday night.
In a news release, the department described how officers initially responded to a scene on Orlando Street in Mattapan, where two victims were found wounded in the area of Orlando Street shortly after 9:10 p.m.
Officials said that while one of the Mattapan victims suffered non-life threatening injuries, the other was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital by Boston EMS.
What followed was a series of shootings in other neighborhoods as, while emergency personnel responded to the first scene, reports of other incidents started to come in, with one person shot on Westview Street in Dorchester sometime before 9:40 p.m. and another victim on Rosa Street in Hyde Park before 9:45.
Police said in the case of the Dorchester shooting, the victim was shot multiple times and left with life-threatening injuries.
Additionally, around 10 p.m., officers were called to a local hospital where two people had admitted themselves to be treated for gunshot wounds officials believe were connected to the scene in Hyde Park. All three victims believed to be connected to the Rosa Street shooting suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to officials.
Police spent the overnight hours investigating all incidents, with Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox urging anyone with information on any of the incidents to come forward.
“The only thing more troubling is our phones aren’t ringing off the hook from people telling us what happened, or what they might have seen or heard,” the commissioner said during a news conference. “We need the public’s help and support on this.”
“It is tragic and we simply cannot allow our communities to be torn apart by this gun violence,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. “But we can’t do it alone – we need the community’s support, now more than ever.”
In the case of the Mattapan and Dorchester shootings in particular, police ask that anyone with info contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at (617) 343-4470.
Regarding the Rosa Street shooting in Hyde Park, the department asks those with information call Boston Police E-18 Detectives at (617) 343-5600.
Community members looking to assist anonymously can also contact the department using the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS, or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).
Responding to Sunday night’s violence, local Reverend Kevin Peterson, who has been working with community leaders to try and address recent violent crime in the area, called for a self-imposed curfew. He suggested parents bring their children under the age of 16 home before 10 p.m.
“We believe that, until there is a time when the city has assured the community or the community has devised its own public safety plan, that we need to keep our most vulnerable people within the community off of the streets,” Peterson said.
Reiterating the police department’s ongoing efforts, law officials said they have been doing everything they can to stop gun crimes in Boston.
“The days of us going around, stopping and frisking people as they walk down the street and violating peoples’ rights? Those days are over,” Commissioner Cox said. “We’re going to work with the community to solve these crimes the appropriate way. Boston’s a great city, but at this rate, if we don’t get the public’s support, things could change swiftly.”
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