Skip to main content
Loading weather...

Shootings, stabbings, brawls, and mountains of alcohol confiscated from parade-goers: St. Patrick's Day in Boston had it all

Monday, March 16, 2026•
6 min read
MDN Staff
•
Shootings, stabbings, brawls, and mountains of alcohol confiscated from parade-goers: St. Patrick's Day in Boston had it all

Listen to Article

0:003:58
Speed:
BOSTON — St. Patrick's Day in Boston delivered exactly what you'd expect: nearly one million people jammed into South Boston, 17 arrests before the last float rolled through, a massive brawl caught on camera, gallons of bootleg cocktails confiscated at the T station, a man stabbed in Nubian Square, and a man shot in the neck at a bus stop in the South End.
Happy holidays.
The day started festively enough. Parade-goers streamed into South Boston by the hundreds of thousands to celebrate both St. Patrick's Day and the 250th anniversary of Evacuation Day. Security drones buzzed overhead. Paul Revere rode down East Broadway on horseback. Minutemen marched. Celtics star Jaylen Brown waved from a float. Governor Healey showed up in Dunkin' gear. It was wholesome. It was patriotic.
Bagpipers march during the St. Patrick's Day parade in South Boston
Bagpipers march down A Street during the St. Patrick's Day parade in South Boston. (Credit: @BostonPatrolmen / X)
It lasted about 25 minutes.
That's how long it took MBTA Transit Police to amass a small liquor store's worth of confiscated alcohol at Broadway Station — dozens of milk jugs filled with mystery cocktails, cans of PBR, nips, and bottles seized from parade-goers who apparently thought the T's no-drinking policy was more of a suggestion.
By early afternoon, the police scanner was already cooking. StacoS, a 24-hour Boston police scanner monitor, logged a woman passed out on the platform at Broadway T Station before 1 p.m. By 2:21, parade-goers were urinating in the alley behind a sushi restaurant on Old Colony Ave. By 2:42, five people were punching one guy in the street at Mitchell and Gustin.
"This isn't Mardi Gras, we don't want it to be," organizer Bob Ferrar had warned. "We want this to be a family-friendly event."
The crowd had other ideas.

MASSDAILYNEWS

STAY UPDATED

Get Mass Daily News delivered to your inbox

By mid-afternoon, Broadway was a zoo. MBTA Transit Police posted video of the crush at the station — thousands of green-clad bodies pressing through the turnstiles, half of them probably still carrying contraband in their coat pockets.
Then came the brawl. Video captured a massive fight erupting along the parade route — fists flying, bodies shoving, police in high-visibility vests wading into the scrum to pull people apart. At 3:35 p.m., multiple callers reported yet another fight, this time at the Taco Bell on West Broadway.
By early evening, Boston police had arrested 17 people in connection with the parade. They declined to say what the charges were.
Massive crowds line the streets of South Boston for the St. Patrick's Day parade
Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of South Boston for the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. (Credit: @scooperon7 / X)
But the parade was just the opening act.
As the green-clad crowds stumbled home, the real violence began. At approximately 7:45 p.m., a man was shot in the neck at a bus stop at Washington Street and East Berkeley Street in the South End. The suspect — described as a male in his 20s wearing a black hoodie — fled on foot. A passing Uber driver called 911. No arrests have been made.
Across town in Nubian Square, a man was stabbed on Roxbury Street just off Malcolm X Boulevard around 10:40 p.m.
Over in Back Bay, staff at the Cheesecake Factory on Huntington Ave called an Uber for an intoxicated woman who then refused to get in the car, requiring both BPD and EMS.
And the scanner kept going into Sunday morning. By 1:54 a.m., a group rolled up in two cars at a McDonald's in Roxbury, attacked the staff, and one of them lifted his shirt to flash a gun. By 5:26 a.m., another person had walked into an emergency room with stab wounds, saying it happened on Boston Common.
"Given the size of the crowd, some incidents that have happened outside of the state, around the country, we want to be sure we have the eyes and ears to respond to things in real time as fast as possible," State Sen. Nick Collins told WCVB earlier in the day, explaining the drones.
The drones were watching the rooftops. Everything else happened at street level.
One parade. One brawl. One shooting. One stabbing. Seventeen arrests. A Taco Bell fight. A Cheesecake Factory standoff. And enough confiscated milk-jug cocktails to fill a kiddie pool.
Boston's St. Patrick's Day, everybody.

Have a tip? Email us at [email protected]

Loading Comments