Stabbing adds urgency to program on gangs

November 30, 2008  |  The Boston Globe  |  Link to article

The recent stabbing of a Framingham High School student, allegedly by a possible gang member, highlights the importance of a police presentation this week about gangs, authorities and activists say.

"People are worried," said Marcos Contreras, cochairman of MetroWest Interfaith Congregations Acting for Hope, the organization sponsoring the event on Saturday. "It's really important for parents to go to this so that they can get more involved."

The meeting is part of community outreach by Framingham police, and was planned long before the Nov. 20 attack. But police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Shastany said the stabbing underscores the importance of educating the community about potential gang activity.

"People tend to believe that maybe there isn't a problem, but we know that when we receive information about gang activity we take it seriously," he said. "Unfortunately, this is corroboration of what our message is, that these things are occurring in our community."

The 15-year-old charged with stabbing another student on the high school's front steps during dismissal said he was a member of a gang known as the Bloods, according to Shastany.

"We don't have a means to check the validity of that," Shastany said.

"When somebody says they're part of a gang, we assume that they are."

The suspect, whose name was withheld by authorities as a juvenile, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to kill, disorderly conduct, and disturbing a school assembly, Shastany said. His 16-year-old brother was charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing a school assembly in the fight.

The 16-year-old victim was taken to Boston Medical Center, police said. Because he was unidentified, details on his condition were unavailable last week.

The fight broke out in the middle of perhaps 100 students as they left school, and several of them knew about it beforehand, Shastany said.

Contreras, whose 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son attend Framingham High, said he had never heard of a stabbing at the school before. He said administrators should act to head off a recurrence, by hiring a social worker devoted to youth issues or another police officer to work at the school.

School officials could not be reached for comment.

The police presentation on Saturday will cover local, national, and international gang activity, said Deputy Chief Ken Ferguson. It will start at 5 p.m. in the school auditorium at St. Tarcisius Church, at 562 Waverly St.

Pinpointing figures on the number of students in gangs is difficult because members are constantly changing, Ferguson said, but there are at least three national gangs known to have a presence in Framingham.

"We want to learn from history and we want to stay on top of it," he said. "We're really partnering with different elements of the community . . . so we can prevent youths from joining gangs."

In Marlborough, a Portuguese-language hotline was set up a few months ago so that residents of Brazilian heritage can report suspicious activity.

Framingham police want to do something similar by making their tips line available in Spanish and Portuguese, Ferguson said.

Meanwhile, state officials announced Tuesday that Framingham and Ashland will receive $150,000 to combat youth and gang violence.

The money is made available through the state's Shannon grant program, which last year provided funding that supported the hiring of a school resource officer and outreach worker at Joseph P. Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham, according to a statement.