In Dorchester's Meetinghouse Hill, a jump in killings leaves residents feeling ‘left behind'

Boston Globe

20-03-2025

Boston is one of the safest big cities in the country, and today's numbers are
But local advocates said today's citywide statistics, though worth celebrating, can elide a tragic reality: that in Boston, gun violence is deeply local. It occurs block by block, person to person. It often stems from gang rivalries and social media feuds, and then from retaliation when the victims or their loved ones seek revenge.
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And it means that neighborhoods such as Meetinghouse Hill, whose largely Cape Verdean community has
'It's great that stats are down across the city — but not necessarily for the entire city,' said City Councilor John Fitzgerald, who represents the area. 'We could be doing a lot more, because hurt people hurt people.
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Fitzgerald said the concentration of violence in Meetinghouse Hill last year was jarring, and that much of it is driven by the drug trade and young people in neighborhood gangs. He pushed for more resources and welcomed a recent increase in police visibility in the neighborhood.
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Mayor Michelle Wu, who celebrated the city's historic decline in murder rates at a
The city is dedicating personnel and money to violence prevention in Dorchester and Meetinghouse Hill, Wu's office said in a statement. Those initiatives include direct outreach to previous perpetrators of violence, collaboration with neighborhood associations, grants to neighborhood violence prevention groups, and programs targeting
'Any incident of violence in our city is one too many and leaves lasting trauma on those impacted, so we will not be satisfied with anything less than ending violence in our neighborhoods,' Wu said in a statement.
Boston ended last year with 24 homicides, its lowest number in 67 years. Wu said the city is not taking a 'victory lap,' but that the statistics validate years-long efforts to improve the city's data collection, police recruitment and retention, youth job programs, and community safety initiatives geared toward young people.
At that December press conference, Boston police Commissioner Michael Cox said: 'In the entire time that I've been a police officer, going back since when I came on, the city has never been safer, period, when it comes to crime, particularly violent crime.'
But the climb in murders in Meetinghouse Hill shows that those trends can vary, depending on where you live. Homicides in Dorchester's C-11 police district, which includes Meetinghouse Hill, increased from five to seven last year, with South Boston the only other district seeing an increase. Those increases in homicides occurred even as overall safety in the area improved, according to data provided by Boston police. The total number of shooting victims has declined in three consecutive years, for instance, even as fatal shootings ticked up.
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Meetinghouse Hill is one of Dorchester's oldest neighborhoods. Behind the historic First Parish Church sits the Mather School, the oldest public elementary school in North America. It is home to a predominantly Black and mixed-race population, according to Census estimates. Immigrants, including many from Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam, have built communities here, making homes in triple deckers on one-way streets lined with ash and linden trees. From atop the hill, Ronan Park looks out over the Dorchester Bay, beyond the pale headlights of cars crawling along Interstate 93.
Residents there have also struggled economically. Meetinghouse Hill and surrounding neighborhoods in north Dorchester have poverty rates well above the city's average. A
Last year, there were three fatal shootings within a quarter mile of First Parish, a center of Dorchester's civic life for 350 years, overlooking the neighborhood from atop Meetinghouse Hill.
On a recent afternoon, Maria Hernandez walked her two young children from school to the Ridgewood Street triple decker they call home. Next door, a month and a hald ago, Kareem DaVeiga Booth
,
20, was
Police said they are still looking for the shooter in the Jan. 21 homicide, and no one has been arrested in the case.
Hernandez didn't witness that shooting, she said, but she's heard others.
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'I've lived here two years, and I hear gunshots on different occasions, but I never know where or what's going on,' Hernandez said in Spanish. 'I stay in my house with my children.'
There's a shooting, then press conferences, news articles, and promises to redouble antiviolence efforts. Those initiatives are important but they are not enough, she said. The same patterns of killing and revenge still exist, leaving families shattered.
'Homicides are still happening,' she said. 'People are still dying, and it's not private death, it's public death. And so for us, even the midst of our pain, we want to shift that narrative.'
Finding solutions can be difficult. For Chéry, it means creating neighborhoods where violence is not just prevented, but peace is actively created, Chery said, an approach that includes teaching schoolchildren how to process their emotions and handle conflict in a healthy way. Until that happens, she said, reductions in violence will always be at risk and leave some parts of the city behind
'We want to celebrate, yet tell a mother whose child was murdered and tell a mother whose child is being arrested by the police that this is a safe community,' Chery said. 'When we stop the violence, what do we put in its place? Because the violence is going to come back.'
On a recent Wednesday, a dozen members of the Meetinghouse Hill Civic Association gathered for their monthly meeting at First Parish. They listened as officers from Dorchester's C-11 district listed recent crimes in their neighborhood, watching for patterns and trends.
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The Boston Police Department has deployed officers to the neighborhood in 'Community Interaction Teams,' which emphasize walking the beat, public visibility, and talking to community members, Boston Police spokesperson Mariellen Burns wrote in a statement.
'For any resident or neighborhood touched by violence, we understand that statistics can't capture the full picture of what their experience is.' Burns wrote. 'We work daily to prevent violence when possible and respond to it when it occurs, and our partnership with the community is a critical part of this work.'
Residents have noticed the increased police presence and appreciate it, said Fitzgerald, the area's City Council member.
'The response to that has been great,' he said. 'The visibility is higher.'
Jones, the civic association president, said she has noticed the added patrols and credited the department with keeping the community informed.
'They're just not riding by being visible in their vehicles,' she said. 'They're actually stopping, they're getting out and participating. It makes a big big difference.'
But, she said, it still doesn't feel like enough. More foot patrols, perhaps. More police presence.
'I do feel like we've been left behind,' Jones said.
Dan Glaun can be reached at