Roslindale tries to cope with spate of recent gun violence

Community seeks answers

Sister Nancy Braceland's after-school program has been a haven for Roslindale children in the wake of recent violence. (justine hunt/globe staff)

Last Wednesday, after hundreds of elementary school children in Roslindale were in lockdown because of a nearby shooting, some went to Sister Nancy Braceland's community after-school program. The children, as young as 7, were confused, concerned, and scared.

"What I always try to do is to sort it out right away so I can help them," Braceland said.

Braceland might have more explaining to do when school resumes today. Gunfire again punctured the neighborhood's sense of security over the weekend and sent two youths to the hospital. Police spent yesterday investigating to determine why a pair of brothers, ages 12 and 18, were shot inside their Roslindale house Sunday night.

Roslindale, known in recent years as a safe middle-class neighborhood with an up-and-coming business district, is the latest neighborhood to feel the effects of a recent spate of gun violence in Boston.

Sunday's shootings were the second in less than a week. Wednesday, three men, ages 17 to 23, were shot while being driven in a limousine from the funeral of Darrion Carrington, who was shot Jan. 7 in Dorchester. One of the victims died.

The 12-year-old and 18-year-old injured Sunday were shot through the window of a two-family house on Cornell Street at about 10:35 p.m. Their names were not released. The boy's injuries were initially listed as life-threatening, but a police spokesman said yesterday that his condition appeared to have stabilized.

"The encouraging news is that we've been told they're both expected to survive, but I don't know the extent [of their injuries] or things of that nature," the spokesman, Officer James Kenneally, said yesterday.

On Cornell Street yesterday, neighbors wondered why Roslindale had suddenly seen an increase in gun violence. Carol Roy, who lives next to the house where the brothers were shot, said she had been walking her dog, a rat terrier named Candy, 15 minutes before the shooting.

"We heard the pop, pop, pop, three pops, then we looked out the window," Roy said.

Roy has lived in the neighborhood 28 years and never felt vulnerable, until now.

"I'd like to get out of here but I don't know where else to go," said Roy, 57. "It could have come through my window."

Roslindale residents have worked hard to keep crime down. Cathy Slade, who heads the Healthy Roslindale Coalition, said regular meetings with police and active crime-watch groups sprouted up in the mid-1990s after police began a series of planning sessions with residents.

Slade, named a Crime Fighter of the Year by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2004, has organized community groups to stamp out graffiti, prevent domestic violence, and tackle other quality-of-life issues.

The police district that includes Roslindale and West Roxbury had one homicide all of last year and none in 2006, according to Boston Police Department statistics. Overall, serious crimes within the district were up slightly in 2007, but the neighborhoods still recorded fewer crimes than most others in the city.

Several law enforcement officials said police fear the new violence could be the result of gang members recently moving from Dorchester to Roslindale.

Slade worries that many residents will attribute the latest shootings to the Washington-Beech public housing development and assume it will not affect them. But that attitude only makes many more fearful and penalizes law-abiding citizens who live near crime scenes, she said.

"What I think might happen is people might be even more afraid to drive through certain parts of the neighborhoods," she said. "That's not good for a neighborhood."

Braceland, who runs youth programs and neighborhood cleanups in the lower Washington Street neighborhood, said prominent crimes tend to bring people together, but that keeping violence out of the neighborhood must be a long-term project.

"The ongoing piece is to try to figure out what we mean by a safe neighborhood and to know that it's not just the police that make it safe," said Braceland, a member of Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston at Casserly House, a ministry and residence for the sisters.

Braceland praised the Police Department for placing more walking patrols in her neighborhood following nonfatal gunfire last year. Roslindale residents like to talk about the new restaurants in the business district. It is an area with a thrift shop and a discount store on the same block as a new sushi bar and a bakery that serves organic foods and mesclun salad with currants.

"Roslindale is obviously a very safe community," said Rob Consalvo, the city councilor for District 5, which includes Roslindale, Hyde Park, Readville, and some of Mattapan. "This is not about Roslindale. This is about the issue of gang and gun violence in the community."

Staff writer Maria Cramer contributed to this article.

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.