Erebus
Member
Their solution to a shotgun attack outside the school... Metal detectors and security cameras!! Yea that will help. I guess they don't realize that the shooter never entered the school.
Peril In Charlestown
Peril In Charlestown
Shotgun attack on students, concrete eruption raise tension
By Maria Cramer and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | September 29, 2006
A brazen shotgun attack on a group of Charlestown High School students headed to class yesterday morning may be linked to the notorious Bloods street gang, officials said, as they pledged aggressive new security measures.
No one was injured in the attack, which sent students diving for cover, but school and police officials said the gunfire probably marked an escalation in a neighborhood feud that had spilled into the halls of Charlestown High, in the midst of a renaissance with achievement test scores improving sharply this year.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino and school officials vowed to protect students, as police hunted for the unidentified shooter and sought ways to defuse the feud. Two metal detectors and several security cameras will be installed at the school as soon as possible, and more police will patrol the surrounding neighborhood, officials said.
``Send your kid to school," Menino said in an afternoon City Hall press conference. ``It's the best place for them."
As police investigated the shooting, a malfunction at a nearby concrete plant around 12:45 p.m. sent an eruption of white dust into a school bus yard, and 61 bus drivers were sent to the hospital with mild respiratory problems. The ride home was delayed for thousands of students across the city.
Menino and school officials said they were examining possible involvement in the shooting by affiliates of the Bloods, a Los Angeles-based gang known for drug dealing, gun violence, and a long-running feud with the Crips gang.
``I believe it is common knowledge that there is Blood activity in the projects around the school," said Michael Contompasis, the interim school superintendent. ``That's what the police are focusing on."
Some students and residents speculated that the shooting stemmed from a dispute between a clique of students and a group of neighborhood youths who may be members of the Bloods or at least are loyal to the group.
The shooting occurred around 7:45 a.m., as students headed to the 1,200-student school adjacent to the sprawling Charlestown public housing development on Bunker Hill Street.
At least three students were on the grounds of the housing development when the shooter opened fire while standing in the middle of the courtyard, police said. After shooting, the suspect fled on foot, leaving a shotgun in nearby bushes, police said.
Several residents reported hearing at least three shots, but police would not specify how many shots were fired, saying only that they recovered one shell casing.
The gunfire created moments of chaos, as dozens of students and residents spilled into neighboring streets and headed towards the school.
Police responded to the gunfire with a show of force. More than a dozen uniformed officers swarmed into the development and the school, searching for evidence on sidewalks and rooftops, in bushes and sewers. Police dogs also helped search.
Tajahnea Bell, 14, and fellow student Estefany Montero said the police presence offered little reassurance.
``We're very scared," Bell said. ``I don't want to get shot."
``I'm getting transferred," Montero said.
Parents rushed to the school after the shooting to fetch their children. ``I came to get my kids out of here," said Jacquelyn Peña, 36, as she walked down Polk Street with her son, René, 15. ``This place is dangerous."
School officials tried to carry on a normal day. Classes let out at 1:30 p.m., and students streamed out, still chattering about the shooting.
Police Superintendent Robert Dunford told reporters the immediate catalyst for the shooting might have been a fist fight Wednesday night between high school students and residents from the housing complex.
He said detectives had identified several ``persons of interest" as suspects in the shooting but would not elaborate.
``There is no evidence that this a hate crime. There is no evidence that this is a bias crime," Dunford said. ``All we have right now is a fight between kids from the high school and kids" from the neighborhood.
During the Wednesday night confrontation, the residents apparently said to a Charlestown High student, ``What are you doing in our hood," said the school's headmaster, Michael Fung.
Fung said he was not sure how many people were involved in the fight or how many were students, but Stephanie Batista, a junior who witnessed it, said five youths were involved. ``It was just people hitting people," she said.
The students who were shot at yesterday apparently had nothing to do with the fight but simply made the mistake of walking through the housing development, Fung said.
He said students are repeatedly warned not to walk through the development or down Polk Street, which borders the school and is a short cut to the bus stop on Bunker Hill Street. Students have been harassed and robbed, Fung said. ``It was a close call," he said. ``That's the price you have to pay when you work in urban schools. The gangs here really make life very difficult."
Residents of the housing development said they also live in fear of the violence. Three women, who all asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the gang members range in age from 14 to 21, all male. They usually wear red T-shirts and loiter around the courtyards.
The violence, the women said, has been increasing since June 2005, when Kevin Walsh, a 16-year-old Charlestown football player who lived in the development, was fatally stabbed. In June, his brother, Adam Walsh, was charged with attempted murder after he shot a 20-year-old man in the legs and buttocks.
But others said the violence in the neighborhood has been a constant for years.
``Here there is no peace," said Victor Santano, 51, who lives on Carney Court. ``One lives in fear. It's like living in a war."
John R. Ellement, Maria Sacchetti and Suzanne Smalley of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
