Police made an arrest Monday following yet another case of gunfire involving kids on bikes in the Dwight neighborhood. Meanwhile, police stepped up patrols in the same area after a Yale student was mugged at gunpoint.
The two unrelated incidents, blocks from each other, were the latest to call attention to problems involving guns, kids, and bikes in the Dwight neighborhood, and to raise the question about what to do about the problems.
• Police got a call around 7:15 p.m. Sunday about three to six shots being fired near Dwight and George Streets; a group of people apparently involved in the incident fled on bikes. Later the police arrested a 17-year-old boy on charges of unlawful discharge of a weapon and carrying a gun without a permit, according to Lt. Herman Badger. No one was reported hurt in the shooting. The 17-year-old only recently got out of jail after serving time on gun-related charges, according to Badger, who’s the city’s chief of detectives.
• A young man stopped a Yale student on Edgewood Avenue, near downtown, around 9:30 p.m. Sunday as she was walking home. He brandished a handgun and demanded money. She gave it to him. Then, according to Yale spokesman Tom Conroy, “He changed his mind, gave her back her money, and left.” She called the police. As of mid-Monday, they hadn’t made any arrests. Yale Police Chief James Perrotti sent a campuswide e-mail alert Monday in the wake of the mugging. He said Yale police have stepped up patrolling the neighborhood. He urged students to use the mini-bus or security escort service in the late afternoon and at night. “And please, please,” Perrotti added, “do not walk alone.”
Yale’s police force has joined city cops in patrolling the Dwight area following a summer of increased gun violence involving kids, many on bikes. The city police union is complaining about the move, charging the Yale cops with invading its members’ turf.
Neighborhood Alderwoman Joyce Chen says she’d like to meet with the union to discuss its concerns. Because, to her, it makes a lot of sense to welcome the Yale police’s help in the neighborhood, given the city police force’s stretched resources.
City police “can’t be on Dwight Street and Edgewood Avenue all the time,” Chen says. “They do what they can with what they have. They can’t spend all their time on Dwight Street making sure Yale students don’t get mugged so Yale doesn’t get bad press.”
The longer-term solution includes involving parents in the problem and finding something productive for kids to do in the neighborhood, Chen says. She’s working with a neighborhood volunteer named Greg Smith on both counts. Smith recently started a parent patrol of the neighborhood, and he and Chen are organizing neighbors to start some kind of after-school program for kids. (See “On Parent Patrol with Mr. Greg.”) People interested in helping can call Smith at 887-3277.
Also on Sunday, police officials joined the NAACP in the Dwight neighborhood for a “Stop the Violence Tour.”
Chief Francisco Ortiz says the cops are staying ahead of the kids with guns. They’ve made several recent arrests and recovered guns used in crimes, Ortiz says.
“We should not kid ourselves,” Ortiz says. “We have an active population” of gun-carrying males in their teens and young 20s “bent on evening the score with violence. Today’s shooting victim is tomorrow’s perpetrator.”
As an example, Ortiz points to the case of a 19-year-old who was shot in the leg at the border of the Dwight and Edgewood neighborhoods, the corner of Sherman Avenue and Elm Streets, last week. He went to the hospital, was released. Police found him riding his bike in a dangerous fashion Friday night by Crown and Park streets. When they stopped him, they arrested him for allegedly carrying illegal drugs and a loaded .25-caliber handgun.
Hear Mayor DeStefano’s take on violence and kids on bikes by clicking here, or read it here.