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 A
rather routine late-night walk turned into a surprising series of
events on Dudley Street in Uphams Corner - watching a shooting take
place and later running into a gang of angry youth. What will school
vacation week bring us next?
Going for a Walk at 10:15pm
On
Thursday, April 18, 2013, my dog, Sarah, asked me to take her for a
walk around 10:15pm, so out we went on our usual trek - down Dudley
Street to Columbia Rd, then left onto Hancock Street and back.
As we
walked on Dudley Street in front of Rainbow and almost home, a
raucous noise caught my attention - sounding like a loud argument or a
fight. Across the street in front of Jerusalem Furniture I saw maybe a
dozen teenagers in motion - doing what I wasn't sure. Then I heard the
noise of something hitting the metal security grate. They were
banging one of the youth into the it over and over. "Goodness
gracious." I don't carry a cell phone. What should I do - cross the
street to try and talk some sense into them?
Now on the
other side of Virginia Street but still watching them, I notice one
youth pulling back away into the street. With his back to me but facing
the group, he lifted his arm in the air and shot at them with a
handgun. From where I stood, the gun sounded barely louder than a cap
gun but the bright silver color caught my eye, looking like a shiny
platinum jewel under the street light.
Later on, thinking about what I saw, I realized this was an
honest-to-goodness movie set. This kid appeared taller than the others,
well dressed with a black jacket and giving a rather svelt appearance.
His style was perfect and his comfort level with the handgun suggested
he knew it well.
The gang of
kids was relatively quiet and there was no indication of "a man down."
The shooter turned and ran up Virginia Street, fast as lightning. I
followed after him, begging my painfully slow dog to walk just a little
faster. As he rounded the top of the slight hill, he disappeared, maybe
heading into one of the open yards. Then like a rush of the Red Sea
collapsing in on the Egyptian army, I heard a throng of chatter growing
louder. All the kids were running up Virginia Street after the guy.
The Police Show up
But that wasn't the surprising part. Out of nowhere from all directions
came police cars - hoardes of them. They came from Dudley the wrong way
up Viriginia Street. They came from the right way down Virginia Street.
When I got to Davern Ave, more police cars and same with Arion Street
that snakes behind Pilgrim Church. My neighbor later told me that
police cars were also all over Monadnock Street. How did they get there
so fast? No one said so, but it is common knowledge that the
shotspotters can pinpoint a gunshot allowing police cars to arrive at
the scene in seconds.
I spoke
with many officers and told them what I knew but my story didn't seem
to be useful to them. They were looking for a person, a gun, ballistics
or a victim, not some lady's story.
When I got
back to Rainbow, I wasn't allowed to go home. Dudley Street had been
blocked with yellow police tape. That meant I had to walk through St.
Kevin's to Virginia Street then to the back end of Monadnock or down
Belden to Humphreys Street. Neither one was a good choice - not at that
time of night where the only safe streets are the lighted main streets.
But Belden to Humphreys was our pick.
By the
time I got back to Dudley Street, the yellow police tape was gone but
surprise, surprise. Deja vu - the "same" kids were back in almost the
same location, this time in front of Amado Enterprises.
"Did you know about the shooting?" I asked one of them. "We didn't do
no shooting!" Ghetto attitude everywhere like they were angry. One
young lady, who some day will make an excellent army boot camp trainer,
said to the others: "You don't talk to no stranger in the street. Let's
go!" And everyone followed her dutifully towards Columbia Rd.
A police
officer walked up to me and said: "They're mad. They paid money to get
into a party on Magnolia Street and we shut the party down."
So goes
another night in the saga of Uphams Corner teens during school vacation
week. I finally got home to quiet at 11:20pm.
Note: While not documented on the Web, police have since stated
they identified a victim with a gunshot wound to the hand who had
travelled to Edward Everett Square.
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Posted: April 20, 2013 Nancy J Conrad
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