Drive-by shooting on Emerald Street on July 4 is main topic at Ward 2 Public Safety Meeting

Ward 2 Councillor Condon, Mayor Christenson, PD Chief Cronin explain stepped-up safety measures in Edgeworth, citywide moving forward

By Steve Freker

The residents of Emerald Street in the historically tranquil Edgeworth section of Malden are far from naive. They know they nor any part of the city are immune from any type of crime, even violent in nature.

That is why the incident dominating the headline above drew dozens of concerned residents from that neighborhood and beyond on July 13. They all came to an Emergency Public Safety Meeting called and organized by Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon, held at the Irish American Hall, sited at a literal stone’s throw – about 50 feet from the front door – from where a group of Malden young people were involved in a potentially deadly incident.

“We are so pleased that so many of you turned out for this meeting tonight,” Councillor Condon said. “We want to make sure everyone has all the information they need and want. We also want to have all of your questions answered.”

In the course of the 50-minute meeting, all three of the top city officials participating in the meeting, Councillor Condon, Police Chief Glenn Cronin and Mayor Gary Christenson, described the incident precipitating the meeting – a drive-by shooting in the early morning hours of July 4 on Emerald Street, a residential street adjacent to Devir Park – the investigation that followed and continues and the measures taken since the incident to maintain safety in the neighborhood.

“We are living in a safe community. Together we will continue to keep it this way,” Mayor Christenson said at the start of the meeting. “We do have our issues; the difference is what happened in our community is not representative of Malden as it is today.”

According to Chief Cronin, at about 2:00 a.m. on July 4, as many as seven motor vehicles quickly pulled into the private roadway beside the Irish American Club (where the public safety meeting was being held) and lined up behind each other. These vehicles were occupied by a group of nearly all Malden residents in their late teens. “We have identified all of them and they were all interviewed at the Malden Police Station since the incident. We have had most of their parents at the station as well to explain the incident and the seriousness of what happened,” Chief Cronin told the audience.

Minutes after the local teens pulled into the Davidson Way Road, according to police, what is believed to be a single vehicle pulled right off the Fellsway and raced east down Emerald Street toward West Street. When the vehicle got near the parked vehicles next to the park, “someone began firing off a bunch of [gunshot] rounds indiscriminately. By a stroke of luck, no one was injured.” According to reports, there were gunshot holes in at least one of the vehicles, though no one was reported injured in the drive-by shooting.

Chief Cronin confirmed the local teens have been frequenting the same spot at Devir Park since summer began and have been going into the park and playing games involving toy guns with water pellets. “We confiscated all of that from their vehicles, and that type of activity will not be allowed moving forward,” said Chief Cronin. The Chief also said the police presence near the park and in the neighborhood will be increased moving forward and that the area all around the park will be cleared for the night at 10 p.m.

This protocol is being enforced nightly in all of the city’s parks and playgrounds, which has already been in place, the Chief said.

Chief Cronin noted that the investigation into the drive-by shooting is ongoing. “We are planning another round of interviews with the local kids at the scene that night.”

He mentioned an incident in Revere on July 4 involving “over 100 people” on July 4, which he said was part of the investigation as to seeing if it had any relation to the Malden shooting. In that Revere incident, a Malden resident was arrested on gun charges. “We are checking out all possibilities, and if anyone has any information about any part of this case, please contact us,” Chief Cronin said.

Chief Cronin also cited specific crime statistics from Ward 2 in the past six months and also the past year, noting there has been either a decrease or a complete absence of various crimes, particularly those designated as violent crimes in the Edgeworth neighborhood.

Residents asked about 15 questions, mostly about details of the case that the Police Chief and Mayor had explained, and several were asking if the Emerald Street shooting was related to two other shootings around the city this summer: at Overlook Ridge Apartments on the evening of June 18 and on July 9 in Malden Square outside New York Pizza on a Sunday afternoon.

The two city officials stressed none of the incidents were related, none of them were random and that suspects were arrested in each case within one day of those shooting incidents. Also, everyone involved in those two incidents, one of which took place in the lobby of one of the Overlook Ridge apartment buildings, did not involve any Malden residents. The two shooting victims, one from each incident, were not Malden residents, either.

Mayor Christenson and Chief Cronin had strong words against the court system at the meeting, when touching on the two other unrelated shootings, both explaining that neither suspect should have been on the street, due to their involvement in previous crimes out of the city of Malden. (See separate story.)

Councillor Condon, the Chief and the Mayor all thanked those in attendance and encouraged and solicited those who came to “continue to be our eyes and ears in the community” and “if you see anything or need assistance, please contact the Malden Police Department.” The Malden Police general reporting number is 1-800-322-1212.