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Boston erupts into warzone after 13 shot overnight in 5 separate incidents

Sunday, July 5, 2026
5 min read
MDN Staff
Boston erupts into warzone after 13 shot overnight in 5 separate incidents

Boston Police were called to five separate shooting scenes between 11:54 p.m. Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday — four in Roxbury and one in Dorchester. Thirteen people were shot. Two are dead. City Councilor Ed Flynn is calling the staffing crisis "dangerously low."

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BOSTON — By sunrise, yellow police tape stretched from one end of Blue Hill Avenue to the other. Six victims down on George Street. A pool of blood on Fayston. Sirens threading through Roxbury from midnight to first light. And a city whose mayor has spent the summer telling the country that Boston is the "safest major city in America."
Between 11:54 p.m. Saturday and just after 4 a.m. Sunday, Boston Police were called to five separate shooting scenes. Thirteen people were shot. Two are dead. Four of the scenes were in Roxbury. One was in Dorchester. The scene-by-scene timeline was first reported by WCVB NewsCenter 5 Sunday morning.
Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox are expected to appear at a scheduled City Hall Plaza appearance later Sunday. Cox is expected to speak on the overnight shootings afterward.

The five scenes

11:54 p.m. Saturday — 13 Fayston Street, Roxbury. Officers found one man shot. He was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition.
Scene on Fayston Street in Roxbury the morning after the Saturday-night shooting
Scene on Fayston Street in Roxbury the morning after the Saturday-night shooting. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
12:36 a.m. Sunday — 24 Horadan Way, Roxbury. A gunshot victim arrived at a local hospital. Investigators traced the shooting back to the Horadan Way area.
12:36 a.m. Sunday — 500 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury. An officer spotted one person with a gunshot wound at the scene. By the time investigators finished their sweep, they had found three victims. All three were transported by Boston EMS. One died at the hospital. A fourth victim from the same shooting rolled up to a hospital on his own.
1:56 a.m. Sunday — 71 Draper Street, Dorchester. Officers responded to a report of a person shot. One victim was located.

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3:14 a.m. Sunday — 120 George Street, Roxbury. Officers responded to another report of gunfire. Three gunshot victims. All three transported by Boston EMS. One died at the hospital. Another is in life-threatening condition — meaning the overnight fatality count could rise. And at 4:06 a.m., three more victims from the same scene walked into a hospital under their own power — their wounds this time listed as non-life-threatening.
Six victims. One scene. Roxbury. 3:14 in the morning.

The staffing crisis, now on the record

The Boston Police Patrolmen's Association has spent the summer publicly warning that a Boston Police department stretched dangerously thin was heading for a crisis. On June 30, BPPA president Larry Calderone told the City Council directly, after a lone officer was surrounded by 150 people in Dorchester and pelted with trash: "Before a cop gets killed."
That was eight days ago. In those eight days, City Hall's response has been to keep repeating the phrase "safest major city in America." In those same eight days, Boston has added thirteen new gunshot victims and two more dead to its 2026 total.

About that "safest major city" claim

Mayor Wu has kept using the phrase all summer — after her own police commissioner went silent on the June 28 Dorchester mob attack on a Boston officer. After the union's president warned the City Council, "Before a cop gets killed." After Councilor Flynn publicly demanded City Hall stop saying it. Wu has kept saying it.
Now Boston has added five shootings, thirteen more gunshot victims, and two more dead to that "safest major city" argument — in a single overnight stretch.
The line does not survive contact with the sidewalk on Blue Hill Avenue. It does not survive the tape on George Street. It does not survive the count.
Whether Mayor Wu uses the framing again at her scheduled City Hall Plaza appearance later Sunday will be a decision the audience — the residents of Roxbury and Dorchester — is watching for.

What comes next

The Boston Police Homicide Unit is investigating all five scenes. Anyone with information is asked to call 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can be sent to the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).
Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team support is available at 617-431-0125 for anyone in the affected communities who needs emotional assistance.
This is a developing story.

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Boston erupts into warzone after 13 shot overnight in 5 separate incidents - Mass Daily News