Thomas MacMillan Photo
Joining a group of Columbus West tenants venting frustration after a hail of bullets ripped through their housing complex, the Hill’s top cop offered an observation: “My phone should have been blowing up. It wasn’t.”
Lt. Holly Wasilewski (pictured) made the remark at an emotional Saturday afternoon neighborhood meeting at the Columbus West housing complex in the Hill, two days after a Thursday night shootout involving at least 23 shots there left homes riddled with bullet holes — and children as young as 5 hitting the floor for safety.
After bullets flew Thursday night, Wasilewski didn’t get phone calls from neighbors looking to help cops figure out who pulled triggers, she said.
Saturday’s community meeting was called by Ann and Howard Boyd, the mother-son duo who manage the property. Neighbors gathered under trees in the complex’s courtyard and took the opportunity to express their sadness and anger about the shoot-out, which was the second in five days in the area. Mayoral candidates Tony Dawson and Clifton Graves offered their support to the tenants.
When it was her turn to speak, Lt. Wasilewski said she needs help from neighbors if they want to catch the alleged teens who shot the place up.
“I need the community’s help,” she said. “I get very little information from people.”
On Thursday night her cellphone was ringing with calls from the officers investigating the shootout, but not with calls from neighbors offering information on suspects.
“I need names,” Wasilewski said. “You can call me anonymously. … We’re here for you, and we want this to stop.”
Wasilewski, who on Friday was promoted to manager of a newly combined policing district covering the entire Hill, later said she has received a couple of helpful calls, and has a couple of names of teens of interest. Those calls came from relatives of the teens who suspect their family members might have been involved in the incident, she said.
She has spread those names among the police force with the message to not give the teens a break if they cross paths with cops. That is, if the teens tangle with cops, and the choice is to arrest them or give them a warning, arrest them and bring them in for questioning.
The shootings seems to involve factions of teens of 16- to 17-years-old from opposite sides of the Hill, Wasilewski said. They’ve been beefing over “very simple things” that Wasilewski said she can’t understand shots being fired over, like the color of shirts.
More specific information is hard to come by. “A lot of people don’t want to talk,” Wasilewski said.
They did want to talk during Saturday afternoon’s gathering.
“We need you to vent today,” said Howard Boyd. Many people were happy to oblige.
Mary Hilton (pictured), who has lived in the complex for 10 years, said that the local teens are not involved in guns. It’s outside kids coming in and shooting guns, she said. She angrily pointed to multiple street lights that are out, providing cover for interlopers.
She said the area needs more police. “We need more action from everybody. I’m tired of this.”
Some neighbors held signs calling for the National Guard to come in and station themselves on the corner.
Dawson (left) and Graves.
Candidate Dawson said the whole city needs to take the situation seriously. He said the perpetrators, if caught, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
Graves, the other mayoral candidate present, later joined hands with Dawson and said they were united in their support for neighbors.
“Never-Ending Shots”
Melissa Bailey Photo
Stephen Soares, Sr. fears for his son’s life.
The shoot-out took place Thursday evening around 11:15 on the streets around the sprawling tenant cooperative of 65 semi-detached townhouses on Columbus Avenue and Bond and West streets. It was the latest incident in a recent string of violence in the area, including a nearby shoot-out last Sunday night.
A group of five men encountered an apparently rival group of three young men, a witness told police. They started shooting at each other, then ran away.
Police arrived to find 23 shell casings at the scene, according to Assistant Chief John Velleca: seven .45 caliber, 16 9‑millimeter.
No one was hit by the gunfire.
A bullet lodged between the doorways of 25 and 27 Bond St.
But the bullets did hit a bunch of homes. They entered at least two apartments on Bond Street.
A woman living in one of the houses said the bullets came in a room where her 5‑year-old daughter and her 2‑year-old son were sleeping. They hit the floor.
“This is ridiculous — somebody is going to bury their kid over this,” the woman said Friday.
“Several homes were bullet-ridden,” reported Ann Boyd, the co-op’s property manager. Boyd has lived at the complex since it opened in 1983. She was across the courtyard from her home visiting her daughter’s home in the complex when the gunfire rang out.
“It was like never-ending shots,” Boyd said.
She soon heard from several tenants whose units were hit.
“All the units that were hit had children in there that were under 10,” including a couple of babies and toddlers, Boyd said.
Stephen Soares, Sr. said he came home to find two bullet holes in his Bond Street home where he lives with his wife and two kids, ages 12 and 1.
One bullet came through the kitchen window (pictured). Another came through the side of the house. They both ended up in the living room, just below where his 1‑year-old son, Stephen Soares, Jr., was sleeping.
Soares, Sr. said he’s now worried about letting his kids play in the yard.
“We’re living in fear over here,” he said Friday.
He attributed the violence to kids trying to “make a name for themselves.” If a stray bullet kills a child, he said, “they’re going to regret it for the rest of their lives.”
James Wright, Sr. (pictured), a Hillhouse High School football coach, said he knew of six homes that were hit by bullets, including his own home on West Street.
“I’m not happy at all,” he said. “This needs to stop immediately.”
The people involved in the shooting left two bicycles at the scene, then fled on foot before cops showed up, according to several neighbors.
For Zoraida Burgos, who has lived on the street for 10 years, the incident brought back a big scare she felt six years ago. At the time, she was living at 31 Bond St. A stray bullet came through the window of her bedroom, and the glass and bullet fell on the bed, right between her and the child she was watching.
Thursday night, she said, the gunshots were so loud they sounded like they were right outside the window. When she looked out the window, all was dark, because the nearest streetlight is broken.
“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anyone,” she said. She said she hopes the cops catch the perpetrators, so she and her family can feel safe going outside.
The police are preparing a number of responses to what’s been an uptick in shootings in the area, according to Velleca.
“The street interdiction team will be in the Hill full force for the entire weekend,” he said. “They will be complemented by task force agents from the ATF [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms] and the FBI. [State] Parole and probation are going to be working in a collaborative effort with patrol looking for people wanted on warrants.”
In addition, cops will do compliance checks on gun offenders; and the tactical narcotics unit will “be active” in the area.
Overall, Boyd, life has been going well at Columbus West—except for the recent violence.
“I really don’t know what is bringing this all about. I just know it has escalated,” she said.