Related article: LAPD aggressively targets hard-core gangs
By Maria Cramer
The Boston Globe
BOSTON — Boston police announced plans yesterday to step up patrols in neighborhoods plagued by gangs, as homicide detectives investigated the death of a young mother who was shot yesterday morning in Mattapan while sitting in a car next to an alleged gang associate.
Superintendent Daniel F. Linskey said commanders and district captains gathered yesterday for a morning conference call to discuss the recent outburst of gang violence that nearly took the lives of two children: a 7-year-old Roxbury boy, who was shot Monday while playing kickball, and 6-month-old Alianna Peguero, who was shot June 16 as her father held her in their Mattapan apartment.
Yesterday morning, a 28-year-old woman was shot in the chest on River Street, where she was sitting in a car with a man police identified as a gang member. His name was not released, but police said he was shot in the arm and is expected to survive.
The family of the victim identified her as Tiffany Lomax, the mother of a 9-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, who lived two blocks from where she was shot.
About 30 of her friends and family gathered last night at Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester to condemn the killing.
“Our family is outraged at the senseless violence,” said Kenny Budd, Lomax’s uncle, who read from a prepared statement. “We’re going to make sure that Tiffany does not become another unsolved homicide statistic in the city of Boston.”
Lomax’s death left her son an orphan, her family said. The child’s father, James Green, 28, was stabbed to death in June 2006 in a fight on Washington Street, said a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. In February, Michael Scott, 22, admitted to the slaying and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The conviction comforted Lomax, who worked at a collection agency, according to a 25-year-old man who identified himself as her cousin. But she wanted to leave the city because she wanted a better life for her family, he said.
“She wanted to move them out of the ‘hood, but the streets caught up with her,” he said. “She was a very pure-hearted person, and I want people to know that. She did her damnedest for her kids.”
Lomax’s relatives said they did not know the man who was with her when she was shot. They said the bullet pierced the man’s arm and then struck Lomax.
Police released few details about Lomax’s death yesterday and said detectives were still trying to reconstruct what happened. But they believe that the shooting happened at about 2:25 a.m. on a busy street with houses, gas stations, and a large shopping center.
After the shooting, the victims drove to Caritas Carney Hospital, where Lomax was pronounced dead.
Lomax’s killing brought the total number of homicides in the city this year to 30, two fewer than this date last year. Nonfatal shootings remain down, Linskey said.
But department officials decided to revise their summer strategy after the shooting of the 7-year-old, whose name has still not been released, he said.
“A 7-year-old kid who was doing nothing but playing and enjoying his summer, when gang kids caused that kid to go to the hospital, it caused us” to intensify their campaign against gangs, Linskey said.
Linskey said district captains have called for more officers in specialized units to be present in neighborhoods known to be gang hangouts. Officers also will try to convince troubled teenagers to look into city jobs for the summer, Linskey said. “If we keep kids busy, we keep them safe,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Boston Globe