Thursday, 4:30 PM
Gov. Patrick responds to call from murdered youth's family
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick leaves home of Steven Odom, 13, who was fatally shot last week. (Evan Richman)
By Maria Cramer, Globe staff
Kim Odom stood in the cold rain on Evans Street, where her 13-year-old son Steven was fatally shot one week ago, and called on Governor Deval Patrick to meet with her and her family to discuss how to stem violence in the city and state.
Odom said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, and other officials had visited the family to try to comfort them. But they had yet to hear from Patrick or members of his administration since Steven Odom was killed last week by a gunman police believe was targeting someone else.
"Now, Governor Deval Patrick, we need some answers from you," Kim Odom said, surrounded by her husband and their four other children, who huddled under umbrellas with dozens of other friends and relatives near an enormous makeshift memorial of teddy bears and candles, protected by a plastic tarp.
"Now as a hurting mother, I extend myself to speak for other hurting mothers," Odom said during a press conference in Dorchester, just around the corner from her house. "What is your office doing to end this hurt across the Commonwealth?"
Three hours later, Patrick showed up at the family’s house. He left about 40 minutes later without speaking to reporters.
The Odoms’ plea marked the second public appeal in two months by Boston residents for Patrick to respond to crime in the community.
"The governor has taken the issue of violence in our community very seriously," Kyle Sullivan, Patrick’s spokesman, said Thursday night. He said Patrick has spent millions of dollars for additional police and violence prevention programs, such as summer jobs for young people.
‘‘More still needs to be done, and his administration is committed to working with the Legislature, mayors, and concerned residents across the state to continue this concerted effort to curb urban violence,’’ Sullivan said.
He added that members of the governor’s staff had spoken to family representatives before Thursday’s press conference about meeting with the Odoms.
‘‘The governor’s thoughts and prayers are with the family,’’ he said.
Reba Danastorg, a family spokeswoman, said that Kim and Ronald Odom agreed to meet with Patrick again soon.
"He heard their heart," she said. "They were too numb as parents to do anything other than to share their hearts."
Kim Odom said she and her husband, Ronald, had decided to hold a press conference to tell the public how the death has affected the family and to send a message to their son’s killer.
Since his death, she said, she and her husband have awakened before dawn each morning and wept.
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‘To the person who did this act of violence, although our hearts are hurting, it holds no hate,’’ Kim Odom said during the press conference. ‘‘God is a god of second chances. You can be forgiven.’’
Odom said the family would ask Patrick to restore funding that has been cut in recent years to violence prevention programs and change the Criminal Offender Record Information law, which allows employers and landlords to obtain the criminal records of ex-convicts.
Patrick has said he wants to reform the records law.
Kim Odom also called on the Police Department to take more guns off the street and on the city to hire more staff to work with young people on the streets and to provide year-round jobs to young people.
"We need to give our young people some hope, to let our people know that we do care," Odom said after the press conference. "Everyone is feeling helpless, and that shouldn’t be."
Sitting in their dining room, Kim and Ronald Odom said they want to understand what led the person who shot their son to commit such a violent act.
"I’m trying to know what caused that person to get to a place that, for whatever reason, they felt they had to take such a wrong step," she said. "I can’t help but feel some sort of compassion. I know it sounds strange, but that’s how it is."
But, Odom said, she wants the perpetrator caught. "There is forgiveness, but there is also accountability," she said.
During the press conference, she said the family would continue to fight to prevent violence. ‘‘We are fully aware of what has violently and tragically happened to our son, our child, our baby, baby boy,’’ she said. ‘‘And his life and death will not be in vain.’’
John C. Drake of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
