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18-year-old shot to death on Hollander Street in Roxbury
By adamg on Wed, 08/22/2018 - 11:35pm
UPDATE: Police identify the victim as Fausto Sosa, 18, of Roslindale.
Boston Police report an 18-year-old was shot at 39 Hollander St., near Harold Street, around 7:10 p.m. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
This is Boston's 36th murder in 2018.
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Comments
Last week my neighbor's 16
Last week my neighbor's 16 year old son put it sadly that so many kids he knows want to carry a gun because it's f*****d up just walkin' down the street to the store. I remember when he was just a toddler and it makes me mad. A lot of these kids pass through my own kitchen and eat the big batches of food I cook. I don't want to see them die and I pray for them.
Do you keep your own stats?
Do you keep your own stats? Because BPD and the Boston Globe say this is the 35th murder of the year.
Yes, about that ...
You're right: The most recent BPD stats, through Aug. 19, show 34 murders. Add last night's and that's 35.
But ...
Yes, I have been keeping track of murders, and I have 36 listed (if you count the number of entries on that page, it will total 34 - but two of those were double homicides). So either one of the murders has been changed to not a homicide or the numbers don't include this murder, which, for whatever reasons, BPD waited several days to announce. That had been my theory, because the discrepancy started popping up earlier this month, but I should probably check with BPD.
It is the 8/1 murder
I just checked the BPD incidents database, and that case is still listed as a "death investigation" rather than a "murder."
Think this happened last year
Think this happened last year too. A shooting was initially classified as a murder and then reclassified as a suicide.
- a Boston Cop
Enforce Bartley Fox to the fullest extent, prevent killings
Sorry for the loss of this youngster. Awful. In 1974-75 Massachusetts House Speaker David Bartley and Judge J. John Fox worked together to pass a law that established a mandatory minimum one year sentence for CARRYING (my emphasis) a firearm without a license, known as the Bartley-Fox Law.
There is no mandatory minimum sentence for POSSESSION of a firearm without an FID card, a much lower standard than a concealed carry license. Many "carrying" charges are changed to "possession" because DA's make deals and judges are offended by mandatory sentences that limit their discretion. Slap on the wrist. Sickening.
As we've seen too often in Dan Conley's DA's office (changing two bank robberies to "pickpocket" to avoid deportation, leading to two murders) the charges are often watered down to avoid the Bartley-Fox law. No outcry from politicians and the dutiful media. A good start would be for new Commissioner Gross to demand Bartley-Fox in every Boston court. The new D.A. candidates should be pinned down on this also.
Oh Fish...
Oh Fish, you silly goose. You are well aware of the way it works in Massachusetts...
First - Don't enforce laws we have on the books that penalize ILLEGAL possession by criminals (Bartley-Fox)
Second - Cry for more laws against LAW-ABIDING citizens in the wake of violent gun-related tragedies.
If you start dropping the hammer on criminal gun-toting scumbags (often with multiple offenses), then that might start to work as a deterrent - and that would make sense, and we wouldn't want that now would we.
This type of action (enforcing laws we already have) is frowned upon in Massachusetts. It's much easier to place blame on legal gun owners who have spent countless hours (and dollars) to obtain the privilege to carry firearms via required safety courses, background checks, interviews, range time, gun club memberships, fees, etc. - then villainize THEM when violent criminals choose to shoot people with ILLEGAL guns.
Sarcasm aside - I am deeply saddened for this youngster, the Family, and community. I have said it here before - If we were able to get protest numbers on the Boston Common (in the range of the anti-trump pink hat marches) and demanded tougher penalties for illegal gun possession, maybe things would actually start to change. One would think that 1 murder (let alone 30+) would be catalyst enough to see tens-of-thousands turn out - right?
We already have the laws - its time to enforce them and hold judges accountable - lives (not feelings) literally hang in the balance.
Senseless - Adam, lets use the power of UHUB
Adam, you do (as far as I am concerned) the best job of any news outlet in covering crime in Boston - sadly including these senseless murders.
In the current political climate, we have seen that people are willing to turn out by the thousands to march/protest when they are motivated (seemingly one every other week).
Suburbanites and others flock to Boston Common en masse, others bang pots and pans together in Rozzie Square, etc.
With all of this engaged activism churning, might you use your platform to gather a groundswell of support to march on Boston Common and demand that gun laws be enforced to the fullest extent, criminals are punished, and repeat gun offenders are kept off the streets of Boston? Hell, the 2018 walk for hunger pulled in 10,000 people - surely a walk to demand action that could stem or prevent the 30+ MURDERS in Boston would attract more than that right?
I am well aware of the Peace March every year - but sadly that doesn't get the attention of a sea of pink hats in Boston.
Maybe if we use this far-reaching platform to bring people together and get buy-in not only from Bostonians but also people from the burbs, we could impact the problem.
Again, we have the laws on the books, they need to be enforced - and criminals need to be punished accordingly.
one more death is one too many.
Nice, but ...
First, thanks.
But the problem isn't lack of enforcement by Boston police, the problem is the fact we are surrounded by a sea of states that make it easy to get guns. Short of banning people from going to New Hampshire or down south, or, maybe, setting up border checkpoints all along 128 (both of which would have lots of easily imaginable constitutional and cost issues), how do you propose stopping the flow of guns into Boston?
umm, maybe make carrying a
umm, maybe make carrying a gun without a license a very, very serious offense. 5 years no parole, no early release might do it.
It's not the Police, it's the judges.
I never said it was a BPD issue, they do a fantastic job of taking guns off our streets. The problem is in the courts - I thought that was pretty clear. Criminals who commit repeat gun offenses should be punished harshly, or at the very least, to the full extent of the laws (see bartly fox).
Far too often, we read of the same scumbags back on the streets using illegal firearms again and again. But instead of dropping the hammer on the criminal, people call for more gun laws.
As a gun owner, I agree that we need stronger (uniform) national gun laws. But making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to pocess firearms is not stopping criminals from shooting each other in Boston.
Yes, we need to demand stronger "national" gun laws. But we also need to demand stiffer sentences for people who choose to pocess illegal firearms, we need to demand that judges place our safety ahead of the violent criminal's "ability to pay bail", and we need to promote a message that the lives of these gun victims matter. And knowing William Gross, I bet he would get behind something like this.
Evidently, LOTS of people are "outraged" by many things in the current climate (see recent marches on Boston Common). Why (as a group) are we not equally (if not more) outraged by conditions that resulted in 35+ people actually being murdered this year alone?
The reality is that it may be difficult to get people engaged though. While it's common on UHUB to see a heated thread of 100 posts to debate space savers or a stupid comment/action of an elected official, your frequent posts about gun violence in Boston rarely receive a single comment.
I just wish we could use the power of this platform to mobilize masses of people to hot the streets and raise awareness for concrete issues that are truly impacting our city - with the same intensity we do for unpopular politicians.
Keep up the great work Adam. Long live UHUB.