Could this be your neighborhood soon?
"2 teenagers hurt in shooting near schools in Dorchester; SWAT team search doesn't turn up suspect" by John R. Ellement/Boston Globe November 30, 2007
For the second time this week, a morning was marked by the sound of gunfire, this time in Dorchester where a score of heavily armed police rushed a boarded-up three-decker in a fruitless search for a suspect who had just shot two teenagers.
The incident began about 8:30 near the Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood on Cameron Street, not far from two elementary schools and a day-care center, where a gunman fired about five shots into a group of teens. Two of the teens sustained wounds that were not life-threatening, police and witnesses said. Police said both victims were 16.
No arrests were made, but police were questioning a possible suspect yesterday, said Elaine Driscoll, department spokeswoman.
The teens scattered onto Hancock and Bowdoin streets as elementary school pupils stood in clusters on the sidewalk and businesses were starting the day, according to residents and police.
"We need to stop the guns," said Maria Cardoso, who saw one of the bleeding teens run past her Hancock Street store, which she renamed in honor of her son, Claudio, who was slain in 2003.
School police were sent to Mather Elementary School on Parish Street, where pupils were still arriving, said Jonathan Palumbo, school spokesman. School administrators hurried students into the building, he said.
The SWAT team's search of the abandoned three-decker also took place near a school - around the corner from St. Peter Elementary School on Bowdoin Street, part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's school system.
Nicole Brien, after-school program director, said students, who arrive at 7 a.m. for 8 a.m. classes, were inside and out of harm's way. "They were already here, they were already safe in the building," she said, adding that alerted school staff about the incident.
The operator of a day-care center on Cameron Street said no children were in danger.
Police were tipped off by witnesses that the suspect may have run into the three-decker. They raced onto Hendry Street, where they surrounded the building. The building is described in city records as a chronic problem in the neighborhood.
Police called in an armored car, and after repeatedly calling over the loudspeaker for the person to surrender - "We are not going away" - they detonated a stun grenade and rushed inside. But the 20 Special Weapons and Tactics officers did not find anyone, police said.
"We felt a need to search [the three-decker] for the safety of the neighborhood," Deputy Superintendent Darrin Greeley said at the scene after the search ended. "This is a vibrant neighborhood."
Police, however, did recover a handgun and a jacket in a backyard located between Cameron and Hendry streets, items they believe were left by the shooter.
A Hendry Street resident, who asked to be identified only as Kay, said she was stunned when she looked out her window.
"There were cops everywhere," she said. Concern became fear, she said, when the armored car rumbled onto the street. "When that truck came - it wasn't fun."
One of the teens, who was shot in the left forearm, ran onto Hancock Street toward police Gang Unit headquarters, where police tended to him until he was rushed to Boston Medical Center.
The second teen, who was wounded in the leg, collapsed on Cameron Street. He was also taken to Boston Medical Center, police said.
"They have not been cooperative," Driscoll said of the shooting victims. She said it was not clear whether the violence was gang-related. "It's unclear at his time what the motive of the shooting was," she said.
After police pulled out of Cameron Street, several residents said they were reluctant to be seen talking about the shooting because of a group of teenagers that hangs out on the street regularly.
In another shooting on Monday, a 17-year-old Charlestown High School student was wounded in the driveway of his Mattapan home at 6:30 a.m. as he allowed his car to warm up.
The student was shot in the jaw and was listed in stable condition shortly after. No arrests have been made, police said yesterday."
