The November 5 shooting in Dudley Square that left one man dead and four people injured shocked the Roxbury community and caused some residents to fear for their safety in the busy shopping district.
The apparently random shooting took place in the early afternoon, when the nearby MBTA bus terminal was packed with students on their way home from school.
"This is a first for the African-American community," said Roxbury state Rep. Gloria Fox as she and scores of other community members gathered in the square last week for a vigil for victims of the shooting. "It is not fear so much as people being very, very cautious about coming to Dudley."
Random shootings are very rare in Roxbury, which has a high level of gun crime but few shootings that are not related to gang disputes or to violence among acquaintances.
In the November attack, a man with an arrest record for bank robbery ran through Dudley Square and fired shots into the crowd. He was tackled by MBTA and Boston police, then arrested.
"We are saying that Dudley is safe," said Joyce Stanley, an organizer of last week's rally who works for Dudley Square Main Streets, a coalition of business leaders and other members of the Dudley community.
Community activists and business owners have worked for years to bring more housing and commerce to the Dudley area.
"We'll continue on the path of revitalization," said Nuestra Communidad Development Corporation Executive Director Evelyn Friedman. "I think we have to work not to let an incident which was an anomaly cause us to slide back to where we were 10 years ago."
The Dudley area has seen the recent construction of the nearby Orchard Park Housing Development and the Orchard Gardens K-8 School. Dudley Square itself has seen the renovation of the Paladio Hall building and the ongoing renovation of the Dartmouth Hotel Building, both on Warren St.
Community activists are hoping to persuade Governor Mitt Romney to move forward with a proposal to consolidate the city's Department of Public Health offices into an abandoned furniture factory at Washington and Warren streets.
There will be few security improvements in Dudley following the shooting.
Boston Police officers plan to step up their patrols in all of the city's business districts this Christmas season, including in Dudley. But the BPD does not plan to increase patrols in response to the November attack.
"Even if we had 20 officers, could the incident have been stopped?" asked Chief of Field Services Bobbie Johnson.
The MBTA, meanwhile, beefed up its Dudley patrols during the school rush hours back in September. Unfortunately, the increased security was not enough to stop the attack, which many young students witnessed.
"The incident was a tragedy for the victims, but also for the young people that witnessed the scene of madness," said Fox.
Community activists have spoken with the principals of the nearby John D. O'Bryant and Madison Park high schools and the Timilty and Dearborn middle schools to discuss potential mental health problems facing students who witnessed the incident or fear coming to Dudley because of it.
"The kids are very upset still," said Stanley. "A number of organizations are providing counseling services in the schools, including the Freedom House and the Black Social Workers."
Community activists say that the main problem in Dudley is not security but rather the need for healing for those traumatized by the shooting and the need to assuage people's perception of danger.
Sixteen-year-old Austin Deleveaux, who travels through Dudley Square on his way to work with Youth and Police in Partnership on Dudley Street, said he does not expect an increase in violence in the square.
"Some people think it is going to happen daily," he said during last week's vigil. "Some are afraid to walk through Dudley. I don't think like that. Maybe I'm more cautious about where I'm at, but that's all."
Article copyright The Bay State Banner.
Photograph (Joseph Carter, Chuck Turner, Gloria Fox and Frank Kelly)
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