BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu took a Facebook victory lap this week declaring Boston "the safest major city in the country" — even as her city cycled through two fatal shootings, multiple drive-bys, and the attempted kidnapping of a toddler in the days bracketing her announcement.
The mayor rolled out her Summer Safety Plan at Walsh Playground on Wednesday morning, accompanied by news that the Cummings Foundation has gifted Boston another $1 million for violence-prevention work.
Mayor Michelle Wu announces Boston's 2026 Summer Safety Plan at Walsh Playground in Dorchester.
"Boston is the safest major city in the country," Wu wrote in her Facebook post. "We know real safety is not a top-down charge, but something we build together."
The contrast underneath the spin tells a different story.
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Two fatal shootings, drive-bys, and a toddler nearly dragged off the Green Line
In the 13 days bracketing the mayor's announcement, Boston Police were running point on the following, in chronological order:
- Saturday, May 9, 11:39 p.m. — Adult male shot dead at 28 Woolson Street in Mattapan. Boston EMS pronounced the victim on scene. Two more people were shot in Dorchester that same weekend.
- Monday, May 12 — A Dorchester gun battle leaves 17 spent casings on the ground and a wounded man dumped at the ER door by his own crew, per MDN's same-day coverage. Friendly fire suspected.
- Tuesday, May 13 — A gunman lights up a Roxbury block with 15 rounds, leaving one man down in the street.
- Wednesday, May 14 — Suspect arrested in connection with a double shooting at 69 Kingsdale Street, Dorchester.
- Friday, May 16 — A carload of teens jumps out and starts spraying gunfire on Dorchester Avenue.
- Tuesday, May 19 — A Boston man allegedly tried to drag a three-year-old boy off a Green Line trolley by his leg — and threatened the boy's mother with a "finger gun." Held without bail.
- Thursday, May 21 — Boston Police announce two arrests in connection with a Roxbury shooting.
- Thursday, May 21 — Youth Violence Strike Force tracks a 17-year-old to Dorchester for a May 11 Charlestown shooting that left a building peppered with twelve spent casings.
- Friday, May 22 — Pre-dawn homicide at 260 Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. BPD Homicide is investigating. No suspect named.
Boston Police evidence markers on Dorchester Avenue after a carload of teens jumped out and opened fire on the morning of Friday, May 16. (Photo via MDN's same-day coverage)
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Plus four separate loaded-gun arrests across the same window:
- May 13 — Armed career criminal arrested, firearm recovered, Dorchester
- May 13 — Youth Violence Strike Force arrests a 16-year-old with a loaded firearm, Jamaica Plain
- May 19 — Suspect arrested, loaded firearm recovered, Roxbury
- May 21 — Suspect arrested, loaded firearm recovered, Roxbury
That's two fatal shootings, multiple street shootings, an attempted kidnap of a three-year-old, and four loaded-gun arrests across five neighborhoods the mayor governs — all within the same 13 days she's calling Boston "the safest major city in the country."
The Cummings Foundation's $1 million is the second consecutive year the private Woburn-based philanthropy has cut a million-dollar check to the mayor's violence-prevention work. The check landed the same week Bowdoin Street did.
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