BOSTON — As city leaders traveled all over Boston for National Night Out on Tuesday promoting neighborhood safety, advocates are calling for more work and resources to address the issue of gun violence.
“I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m scared, and yet we can’t give up,” Clementina Chery, President and CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, said.
Chery said she named the organization after her son who was shot and killed in a shooting hear his home in Dorchester in 1993, at just 15 years old.
Through her organization, Chery works to support families and victims of gun violence through advocacy and healing services.
“We respond to families in that first 24 to 72 hours to make sure they can bury their loved ones with dignity and compassion,” Chery said.
She said violence needs to start being addressed through the lens of public health.
“If we truly want to address the issue of violence, we must invest in the solutions,” Chery said.
Earlier this week, a shooting in East Boston early Sunday morning left an 18-year-old dead. On Monday, a shooting in Hyde Park left one person dead and four others injured.
At National Night Out, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden addressed the recent violence.
“That is on us to make sure that we’re continuing to do what we do every single day which is to be in community, put our resources in the right places, be in constant dialogue about what we could be doing more… and to not let up,” Mayor Wu said.
“We are working hard to make sure we hold every single one of those people accountable,” Commissioner Cox said.
Cox said they also continue to work to get illegal guns off the streets, as the Suffolk County District Attorney seeks to hold those responsible accountable.
“We’re gonna continue to do everything we can each and every day in each and every case. We don’t rest,” District Attorney Hayden said.
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