BOSTON — Terrifying new videos show bystanders scrambling for cover and a little girl running for her life when two gunmen open fire on each other in broad daylight near a park in Boston where children were playing baseball on Wednesday night.
Surveillance videos obtained by Boston 25 showed an individual in a red hoodie stop suddenly on a sidewalk near Ramsay Park in Roxbury, pull out what appears to be a handgun, and unload several shots in the direction of a group of people in the distance.
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A second individual in a brown hoodie with white sleeves is then seen returning gunfire in the direction of the shooter in red.
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A third video showed the shooter in red retreating away from a cluster of businesses and continuing to fire shots down the street as a little girl in pink pants hurries away into a car with an older woman.
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Officers responding to reports of more than 20 shots fired in the area of Shawmut and Mass avenues just after 6:45 p.m. taped off a perimeter from the park past the businesses.
No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.
A Boston 25 News crew saw investigators recovering a number of spent shell casings from the sidewalk and street.
Several parked cars were visibly pierced with bullets.
“This is just hurting my mind, heart, and stomach,” neighborhood resident Shekisha Vicks said. “I was just down here an hour and a half ago. It could’ve been me and my mother who was in the midst of this.”
Joe Bell grew up in Roxbury and he says he is sick of it. “I’m tired of people getting shot man, for real man, for real man. Just tired,” said Bell. The shoot out happened right by Ramsay park where kids were playing little league baseball. People were running for cover. “This needs to stop. I’m so tired of hearing gunshots out here,” said Bell.
The shootout is just the latest in an uptick in violence in the city this week alone.
On Tuesday, a gunman opened fire in the middle of a busy intersection by Gallivan Boulevard and Dorchester Avenue.
Also on Tuesday, a deli worker was injured when a co-worker stabbed him inside a Star Market in Mattapan.
The violence began on Monday when a beloved pastor from Haverhill was shot to death in broad daylight outside of Frederick Middle School on Columbia Road.
All of the incidents remain under investigation.
The Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox says they are equally frustrated, but they are confident the city’s strategy will work. “We are capturing people that are committing these crimes in the city,” said Cox. “Building trust is difficult in general but if you can’t do it beforehand by having partnerships with an understanding of what our role is and how we can help solve things. We can also try to do it by bringing justice to the people out there doing that.”
The city and police department outlined their extensive plan to battle violence and crime over the summer. “Our goal is to have no crime. Zero crime. Police can’t do that. Society has to do that,” said Cox. “You will probably never stop it but you got to slow it down,” said Bell.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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