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Four people shot outside Packy Connors; Blue Hill Ave. shut
By adamg on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 9:17am
ED. NOTE: Story has been updated with new details on arraignment and charges.
Boston Police report that four people were shot outside the trouble-prone Packy Connors at closing around 2 a.m. today, in an incident that ended with police firing at the gunman after he allegedly pointed his weapon at them.
Police report the arrest of Charkeem Hyatt, also known as Maurice Mattocks, 19, of Dorchester, on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest:
Preliminary information suggests that immediately following the shooting incident several officers pursued the suspect on foot. During this time, there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and the officers.
In Roxbury District Court, Hyatt was also arraigned on charges of four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Bail was set at $200,000, but his bail in an earlier, unrelated case was revoked.
Blue Hill Avenue south of the bar was shut for much of the morning as police combed the area for evidence.
Channel 4 reports police found two victims at the scene and that the other two managed to get themselves to Boston Medical Center. All were expected to survive.
The station reported that the Boston Licensing Board revoked the bar's liquor license today pending an emergency hearing on Monday on whether to shut it.
Just last week, the licensing board voted to let Packy Connor's stay open despite police complaints about an all-out brawl outside the bar in May that left three people stabbed and four arrested - the latest in a long string of police complaints to the board about the bar. At last week's hearing, board chairman Daniel Pokaski agreed with the bar's owners that they were being unfairly blamed for incidents happening outside the bar in an unsafe neighborhood.
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Comments
gender confusion?
Herald/Globe reports say three women, one man:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/200...
Also see Maria Cramer's story from April on "the black Cheers":
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art...
You're fast
I was working off BPD's initial tweet, then changed it as soon as I saw a later advisory from the DA's office.
first thing I saw when I got up this am
I saw that tweet and my heart sank.
I went straight to UHub to see what was up. *grin*
it's apparently attracting
it's apparently attracting the wrong clientele, and if the owner was serious he'd hire a detail officer or two until the thugs in the area get the idea.
He hasn't, so shut it down.
No, they have
At least, that's what the owners told the licensing board last week. Plus, they say they have nine bouncers and a metal detector.
Happened outside again
I don't know what people want the bar to do if it's happening on a public street outside. There's a whole reason people say "do you want to step outside?". Maybe the police chief and mayor should be getting on the horn to that district to figure out why they're not staking the place out more regularly since it's pretty clear that bad guys go to that bar and then get into trouble with other bad guys outside.
We have the light bulb...now where's the fly swatter?
The assailant was outside
It sounds like some people were ambushed as they left the place.
Close the bar and the trouble moves elsewhere. Maybe they should be more worried about the trouble in the street?
Yes, but that's only during
Yes, but that's only during Friday and Sat night.
In a bad area such as this, it seems he needs one for S-Th. It's a tough call, but when thugs are targeting a particular establishment because they know it's a local, popular hang out, the owner needs to do everything possible to stop it, or needs to close up shop.
there was a cop on detail last night
Says the Herald.
If the police station right smack on Blue Hill and Morton isn't stopping Shooty McGees from blasting at each other in broad daylight and hitting church moms, what good is one detail cop going to do?
Simple solution
1. Close the bar
2. Auction the liquor license off to someone who wants to open a bar in an area that's less, ehm, gunfire-prone.
3. Give the money from the sale of the license to one or more of the many funds for victimes of violence.
Just a thought. Attack when ready.
So You Propose...
fixing the neighborhood by closing down even more of the amenities that make a neighborhood nice?
An establishment that births
An establishment that births random acts of violence, does not add anything positive to a neighborhood.
Read the articles
By day, the place is a tremendous boon to the community and neighborhood.
Are you suggesting...
...that this bar somehow makes the neighborhood "nice"? Please. It is not. And no, I wasn't suggesting that closing the bar would somehow "fix" that neighborhood; it would not. All I suggestd is that, if there's a continual and apparently unaddressed issue of violence in and around this bar, and that the management consistently fails to prevent this from happening, then maybe, just maybe, they need to be shut down.
Yes, I Am
The reason that neighborhood isn't "Nice" as you put it, is lack of amenities. What they need to do is open up MORE businesses. Not shut them down! Aren't you supposed to be the Republican? Sheesh!
A bar where people get shot is an "amenity"?
Interesting way of looking at things. What, in your intricate brain, would constitute an "eyesore" or "blight"?
A Bar IS an Amenity
People aren't getting shot there because it's a bar. People are getting shot because it's a shitty neighborhood. It's a shitty neighborhood because it lacks amenities. Businesses are amenities. Shuttering businesses will only exacerbate the problems in the neighborhood. Opening businesses will solve them.
They day you meet an anti-business Republican is the day you've seen everything!
Not anti-business,
Just anti-people-getting-shot, unless they live somewhere that has oil or something. Or they're trespassin' on my property.
But seriously, it's not like if this bar shuts down it'll all of sudden become a vacant lot-- something else will likely sprout in its place. And also, to be really, really clear here-- for your benefit-- this is not the only bar that's in a rough neighborhood. Not by any means. But if it's far and away the worst in terms of violence involving patrons-- which it might be-- and seems to contribute to existing problems-- which it might do-- then a shutdown might be in order.
Some Simple Math
So, imagine Packy's closing down (not too hard after today's licensing hearing) and another business moving in. You'd have 1 Business - 1 Business + 1 Business = 1 Business = same shitty neighborhood = same shitty problems. Congratulations, you've solved nothing! What needs to happen to stop shootings in this neighborhood is 1 Business + 1 Business + 1 Business, etc., etc.
So in your universe, time and space is unlimited?
Wow, that really is some simple(minded) math. Did you even take math in school? If so, what were your grades?
How does Packy Connors' survival influence, let alone add up to "1 + 1 + 1" business? I mean, that neighborhood-- any neighborhood-- has limited space (for the sake of argument, I'm limiting the discussion to reality); how, in your world, is Packy Connors' staying open going to spark two new businesses being there? Seems to me that plenty of business owners would rather _not_ open next to where people get shot on a regular basis.
The police arent doing their
The police arent doing their job of protecting a street with a violent history. Why blame the unfortunate business owner?
I doubt he runs a " free drinks for armed thugs" night
Yes....its the cops fault....-
Right, lets blame the cops for not preventing this....lets blame Packy O'Connors for what happens on Blue Hill Ave.... Lets not talk about the scumbags that are doing this crap on a daily basis.
I have a novel idea, Lets look at the community that fosters this, the community that turns a blind eye to thugs & gangstas. This community reaps what it sows....
The bar owner is paying through the nose to turn his bar into a fortification...what other community does this happen in? Where is the outrage? 9 Bouncers, a Police Detail & a metal detector? WTF...you all act like this is normal??? Its Blue Hill Ave, not Beruit!! My god, its enough to make you sick....
I got your outrage right here
Locked and loaded. I'm just not sure who to point it at. "The community" takes out a lot of innocent passersby.
I bet it went down like this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuE4W_iELqU
PLEASE let Packy Connor's get shut down already.
Ah, that explains why there were newsvans on the corner of my street and Blue Hill Ave this morning, and why there was a major traffic jam on my street of people being directed to Warren Ave.
As someone who's had to live with the violent alcoholic culture here for the last few years? SHUT THE BAR DOWN NOW. In fact, strip every business in the area of their liquor license, bar and liquor store alike. MAYBE make an exception for restaurants that close by 10 on weeknights, 11 on weekends. That'd remove the easy impetus for punks coming in from out of the neighborhood to get drunk and start "a little trouble."
Oh, I don't deny that thugs live in the neighborhood and cause trouble, but that's not the majority. Most people on my street are older than the troublemakers. The problem is the people coming from out of the neighborhood to get drunk at Packy Connor's or the Breezeway, who stumble out of said bars at closing time, so drunk they can't walk straight, and who get into fights on the way to their cars which they are far too drunk to drive. The people we're calling the cops on are in their 20s and 30s; most of our neighbors are in their 50s and 60s.
In my ideal world, Packy Connor's *and* the Breezeway *and* the Superettes would get shut down, and replaced with something that doesn't sell liquor. Something that would actually make the neighborhood better for the people who live there. How about a grocery store? A community center? A library branch?
If you can't uphold the basic responsibilities of being an adult (such as, oh, not getting behind the wheel of a car you're too drunk to drive), you shouldn't be allowed any of the privileges of being an adult either (such as acquiring that alcohol to drink in the first place.) Let's not make it any easier for these "adults" to acquire the alcohol exacerbating the problems in the neighborhood.
Licensing board pulls Packy Connor's liquor license until Monday
When it'll hold a hearing on revoking it permanently, WBZ Radio reports.
Bail set at $200,000, but suspect not getting out anytime soon
Because even if Hyatt could raise the money, a Roxbury District Court judge today revoked his bail in another, unrelated case revoked, the Suffolk County DA's office reports.
Was he even in the bar?
I can't find any information from the investigation to point out whether Hyatt was in the bar or not prior to the shooting. At 19, obviously he shouldn't have been in the bar. If he wasn't and only waited outside to attack someone coming out, then again, how is the bar responsible? If he was, then shut down their liquor license since this won't be the first time they allowed underage drinking.
Former Packy's Customer
I have not been in Packy's for quite some time and I can remember enjoying myself with my friends and seeing the regular crowd. It is so funny how people want to pass judgement on a place that he or she may have never been too. I agree it has gotten out of control by letting almost anybody come through the door and that is the reason why I chose to stay away from Packy's. Packy's does not have any control on what may happen once people leave from their doors and hit the streets. I also know many police officers (not on detail)and correction officers and others who are there almost every night. How do you think Packy's stayed open for so long.
DA: Shooter was not in the bar
Also, while he allegedly pointed his gun at pursuing officers, he did not fire at them - and while they did fire at him, they did not hit him. This just in from the Suffolk County DA's office:
Not bad,
19, already has two aliases and a filed charge for threatening to murder his middle-school teacher. Together we can!