A shooting incident near Maverick Landing late Sunday night that injured one person had an immediate reaction from Representative Carlo Basile
Basile spoke out Monday morning following the incidents and reached out to the District 7’s captain and community leaders to address the recent spike in violence that seems to be isolated to this area of Eastie.
“Numbers don’t lie – East Boston has traditionally been one of the safest neighborhoods in the city,” said Basile. “I am proud of the close working relationship Senator Petruccelli, Councilor LaMattina, and I have maintained with law enforcement agencies to ensure this community’s safety through strong preventative measures and community policing,”
However, Basile said the recent reports of what appear to be an increase in violent crime in East Boston troubles him and other community stakeholders,
Last week, the East Boston Times reported that while overall Part One Crime is down three percent in Eastie when compared to the same time period last year, some violent crime was up.
In the first half of this year from January 1 to July 27 2014 there have been 18 less incidents of Part One crime when compared to last year.
However, a look at the stats show that some crimes have increased.
There were no homicides during this time period in 2013. However, Eastie has already experienced three homicides. There have been nine rapes or attempted rapes compared to seven last year. Robbery or attempted robbery was up from 56 to 65 and there were four more burglaries or attempted burglaries when compared to last year.
While there was a slight uptick in these crimes, aggravated assaults, larceny and vehicle thefts are down.
Aggravated assaults were down from 91 to 85, larceny was down 272 to 252 and vehicle thefts are down 58 to 48.
Overall there were 547 Part One crimes, down from 565, which reflects the 3 percent decrease.
“While we have complete faith in the various police entities serving our neighborhood (City, State, MBTA, Massport), we have asked each for a fresh look at prevention and enforcement measures and increased presence at some of the community hot spots to make certain that we continue as one of the safest areas in the city,” said Basile.
To address this increase in crime, Basile and Eastie’s other elected officials, community leaders and Captain Kelley McCormack conducted a walk through of the Maverick Landing area Tuesday at 2 p.m. The shooting incident occurred Sunday at 11:15 p.m. Police responded to a call for shots fired near Maverick Landing. Police found a victim on the corner of Sumner and London Street suffering from a gunshot wound.
He was transported to Mass General with non life-threatening injuries.