Cambridge shootings spark alarm and instant actions

Serghino René

Cambridge is just across the river from Boston but the difference is almost night and day, particularly when it comes to violence.

While Boston is struggling to keep pace with a record number of shootings and murders, Cambridge officials are worried that three shootings last month might be a harbinger of more crime in a city that prides itself on its tolerance and civility.

Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves is one of them. He has been an elected official for the last 17 years and he sees the number of violent incidences increase every summer.

“Cambridge has relatively little violence, but three shootings in a one month period is unusual,” said Reeves. “Every bullet shot is felt throughout the entire city.”

Though overall crime in Cambridge has decreased by eight percent and violent crime by 17 percent from last year, the area that has shown an increase in gun violence in recent months is Area 4, according to Cambridge police.

Bordered by Hampshire Street, Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street and the railroad tracks by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Area 4 has one central spot — the Clement Morgan Park. And last month, it was anything but an idyllic playground.

On July 5, a 26-year-old Cambridge man was shot in the lower abdomen and wrist just outside his home on Washington Street near Areas 4’s Clement Morgan Park. He survived the bullets from the semi-automatic handgun.

On July 26, two additional Cambridge residents of the Area 4 neighborhood, one male and one female in their early to mid-twenties, were found on the intersection of Washington and Columbia Streets, both shot in the leg. The two victims were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

As a result of the shootings, immediate measures were taken, sparking a slew of community meetings. City Councilor Denise Simmons, a resident of the Area 4 district, called for Clement Morgan Park to close at 8 p.m. rather than the usual time at 10 p.m. She also called for more police surveillance.

A couple of days later the city council voted to restore the park hours to 10 p.m., but police surveillance is still tight. A police cruiser is expected to be in the park between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. to ward off nightly crowds.

“Right now we are working to keep the park safe without police surveillance,” says Simmons. “A person passively passing by shouldn’t have to question whether or not the park is safe if they spot a police cruiser in the park.”

The Monday following the July 26 shooting, Mayor Reeves invited 25 individual members of the community to collaborate at his office to discuss the recent events including the presence of nonprofit organizations, the police, elected officials, sports league organizers and youth workers.

At a recent emergency city council meeting, held mid-week at the Cambridge Ridge and Latin School, a call to set a curfew was proposed, as well as establishing a citywide task force that would determine safety initiatives. The majority of the council was against temporarily closing the park.

“Closing the park would be the wrong response and give the wrong message,” said Reeves at the meeting. “It would tell those doing wrong in the community that they have the upper hand.”

Creating a curfew for young people didn’t sit well with residents and elected officials either. Washington D.C. recently set a 10 p.m. curfew for teens under 16 years old for the summer months as a response to a particularly violent summer in the nation’s capital.

But Reeves and Simmons both agreed that Washington and Cambridge are not similar in any regard.

“What works in Washington D.C. won’t work in Cambridge,” said Reeves. “We have to compare Cambridge to Cambridge.”

That might be true. But one thing is clear, argues Simmons. The rash in violence has little to do with Clement Morgan Park.

“It’s much deeper than that,” said Simmons at a recent community meeting. “There is an underlying problem in the city that hasn’t been addressed properly in the neighborhood and it played out at Clement Morgan Park.”

Local residents have suggested that gangs may be at the heart of the problem. The most recent shooting is rumored to be a part of a gang initiation and area residents point to visible evidence.

Spray-painted on a nearby shed reads the phrase: “Beef: Roxbury vs. the Coast.”

“That means there’s a war,” says resident Jameson Pollock.

Exaggerated or not, some visitors to the park take violence as part of the landscape.

Stanley James, 21, lives in Boston and was sitting across from Clement Morgan Park last week. He said he comes to Cambridge often to hang out with his friend, John Benjamin, 22, a resident of the Area 4 neighborhood. With a towel over his neck he says there are “knuckleheads” everywhere that will try to find a way to mess things up for everybody.

It’s not just the potential for violence, James explained, but also the increased amount of police patrolling the park.

“People want to come out when it’s cool outside. No one wants to come out when it’s hot,” says James. “If the police are at the park, people will find another place to chill at night.”

Reeves remains hard-pressed to believe claims that Cambridge is a new hotbed of gang activity.

“There are no problems with gangs from my perspective,” says Reeves. “I’m from Detroit. I’d be the first one to tell you if there was a gang problem in Cambridge.”

City Councilor Anthony Galluccio has a slightly different opinion on the matter — he takes it quite personally.

“Gangs?” Galluccio asked incredulously. “Those are excuses and scapegoats.”

Galluccio placed the blame squarely on the backs of the police department, which he believes has not done enough outreach to forge better relationships within the community.

“We as a city have to take responsibility for what has happened,” said Galluccio. “Curfews and park closings raise the assumption that victims of violent crimes are not innocent. I have a strong concern about those assumptions.”

Galluccio said he spoke with one of the shooting victims and was appalled to learn that the police department hadn’t contacted the individual.

The victim, according to Galluccio, refuses to cooperate with police in identifying his attacker.

“When the police are unable to protect victims, why should the victims turn around and give information to people who don’t protect them?” says Galluccio. “It’s a trust issue.”

At least the city has tried to do its part to keep Cambridge teenagers busy. This summer, every 14 to 16-year-old who wanted a job, a total of 820, was hired to work in the Mayor’s Summer Youth program.

“We really work very hard to support young people in this city,” said Reeves.

The problem, says Reeves, involves young adults in their twenties and thirties. These are people with degrees, a year of college or military experience.

“There are a group of 20-somethings that have the potential of influencing younger teens in a not-so-positive way,” says Reeves. “We are keeping a closer eye on that development.”