BOSTON — Two dead. Thirteen shot. Five separate scenes in one weekend. On Monday, State Sen. Nick Collins told City Hall it was "not a time for slogans."
"This is not a time for slogans, political posturing, or subjective superlatives," Collins wrote in a Facebook statement Monday. "It is a time to acknowledge the problem directly and commit the resources needed to address it."
The First Suffolk senator — South Boston, parts of Dorchester and the South End — laid out the pattern City Hall did not.
"This weekend alone, there was tragic news of multiple shootings that resulted in two deaths and several injured including police officers," Collins wrote. "That is in addition to the triple shooting in the Theater District less than a week ago, following a shooting in South Boston and a triple shooting in the South End days before. Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan have also experienced an increase in gun violence."
"The trend is impossible to ignore."
500 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury, early Sunday morning. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
Fayston Street, Roxbury, the morning after the Saturday-night shooting. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
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A Boston Police officer at one of Sunday's overnight scenes. (Photo courtesy of YouTube.)
Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox blamed firearms at a Sunday afternoon press conference. Wu has continued to call Boston "the safest major city in America" through the summer. Collins named the fix.
"Lives depend on a strong, holistic response," he wrote. "That means fully staffing our police department, fully funding youth jobs, and making clear that there must be zero tolerance for gun violence and attacks on first responders."
Collins has been one of Beacon Hill's loudest voices on BPD staffing. His statement landed a day after Boston Police Patrolmen's Association body-worn camera video showed officers ambushed with fireworks on a Fourth of July call — and a day after Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy publicly demanded the same emergency response.
Collins's Sept. 1 Democratic primary is two months out. Mayor Wu personally jumped into it by endorsing his challenger, first-time candidate Latoya Gayle — a self-described "lifelong advocate" whose campaign literature promises to "amplify community voices" and "turn lived experience into meaningful change."
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Gayle is a registered Massachusetts lobbyist and a 2000 graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence with a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. She currently serves as director of advocacy at Neighborhood Villages, a Boston childcare nonprofit.
Latoya Gayle, the Dorchester activist Mayor Wu has endorsed for the 1st Suffolk Senate seat. (Photo courtesy of Instagram.)
Gayle first surfaced in citywide politics during the 2020 anti-police movement, when she pushed a civilian board to oversee Boston officers — one of the reasons Wu tapped her for the state Senate race. Wu called her a "powerful, principled voice." Progressive Mass endorsed. Public-employee unions signed on.
Her campaign site lists three platform pillars — "Affordability and Housing," "Education and Childcare," and "Energy and Environmental Justice." None of them mentions crime, the Boston Police Department, or the shootings that just left thirteen wounded and two dead in the district she wants to represent.
Collins closed on what he wants Boston's elected leaders to do next.
Acknowledge the problem. Commit the resources.
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