After gunfire killed a man and left a teenager clinging to life support, residents of Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood braced for more violence as officials scrambled for ways to “end this insanity,” in the words of one legislator. The Boston Globe said a grocer who has installed bulletproof windows in his store said his friends are warning their children not to ride public buses.
Mayor Thomas Menino said gang members have a “lack of respect for life out there. They don’t understand what life is about and they don’t seem to understand death, either, that it’s final.” Police Commissioner Edward Davis said his department is launching a comprehensive plan “to increase our visibility.” Members of the Guardian Angels have started patrolling in Boston. Said founder Curtis Sliwa: “In the mindset of the perpetrators, they think they will get away with it because nobody will rat them out, so they’re ratcheting it up.” The city has had 15 homicides this year, up from 10 at this point last year.