BOSTON — Yellow police tape strung across Blue Hill Avenue before sunrise. Six victims down on George Street. A pool of blood on Fayston. Sirens threading through Roxbury from midnight to first light. Thirteen shot. Two dead.
Sunday afternoon, Mayor Michelle Wu stepped up to a microphone outside City Hall alongside Police Commissioner Michael Cox. They blamed the guns.
"This is a busy time of year and when we see large gatherings with firearms present, that is never a recipe for peaceful celebrations," Wu said, per WBZ NewsRadio. Cox followed: "These large parties that we have throughout the city, particularly involving both fireworks and firearms, has no place in our city."
Neither official addressed the department's staffing crisis, prosecutorial decisions, or the shooters. The press conference came hours after the overnight shootings that left thirteen shot and two dead — and on the same afternoon the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association released body-worn camera video of officers ambushed with fireworks during a Fourth of July response.
500 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury, early Sunday morning. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
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Fayston Street, Roxbury, the morning after the Saturday-night shooting. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
A Boston Police officer at one of Sunday's overnight scenes. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
City Councilor Ed Flynn blamed fireworks and called for a task force to intercept people bringing them into Massachusetts, then made the point plain: "My point is fireworks were used intentionally to assault police officers last night. Another officer was assaulted last week. In my opinion, anyone that assaults a police officer should be arrested, prosecuted and if convicted, receive a state sentence!"
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Councilor Erin Murphy went further. In a Facebook statement titled "Enough Is Enough. Boston Needs a Real Public Safety Plan," Murphy wrote that she is "outraged" and has "consistently called for hiring hundreds of additional Boston police officers every year." She also revealed a private exchange with the mayor: "Last summer, I attended the Mayor's Summer Safety Plan press conference. More than ten people, including other elected officials, were invited to speak, but I was not. Afterward, I asked Mayor Wu directly why I had been excluded. She told me she did not see me as 'a partner' in the City's summer safety plan." Murphy said she will file a Council resolution demanding a full-Council briefing on an updated Summer Public Safety Plan and a citywide Public Safety Summit.
Massachusetts is one of the strictest states in the country on both fronts Wu and Cox blamed. In 2024, Gov. Maura Healey signed Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024 — "An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws" — the most significant restructuring of the state's firearms code since 1998. It banned ghost guns, restricted assault-style firearms, expanded the state's red flag statute, mandated firearm-safety courses, and imposed new registration requirements. Voters will decide whether to keep it in a November 3, 2026 veto referendum. Massachusetts is also the only state in the country that bans all consumer fireworks — including sparklers. Under Chapter 148, Section 39, handing a sparkler to a child on the Fourth of July is technically illegal — arrestable under the statute and carrying a $10 to $100 fine. Sunday's overnight bloodshed happened while both laws are fully in force.
Wu has continued to publicly call Boston "the safest major city in America" through the summer. Neither Sunday statement retracted the phrase. Neither statement used it either.
Two dead. Thirteen shot. Five scenes. Officers ambushed with fireworks. And on Sunday, Boston's leaders blamed the objects.
This is a developing story.
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