Editorial: Malden is a safe community, but trio of recent shooting incidents is beyond alarming

This is the reality of the past several weeks in Malden. Instead of taking vacations, day trips or other summer-related activities, families in and out of this community could have been planning something completely different and heart-wrenching: funerals for their loved ones.

Malden is a safe community, no question about it. All the crime statistics back it up. Citywide, all violent crime figures from this city are decreased, or nonexistent, in each of the past several years. That point was made – correctly – at an Emergency Public Meeting held at the Irish American Club on July 13 by Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, Police Chief Glenn Cronin and Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon, who called for the meeting after a shooting incident in his neighborhood early in the morning of July 4.

Stop right there. A SHOOTING INCIDENT in Ward 2? In Edgeworth? On Emerald Street? On one of the quietest streets in one of the quietest neighborhoods in Malden.

Longtime Malden residents might say this was the first gun violence-related incident they had ever heard of EVER on that street, or even in that neighborhood. But it happened.

According to police, a group of Malden residents in their late teens had quickly pulled into a private roadway next to Emerald Street beside the Irish American Club early in the morning of July 4. Minutes later, a speeding car pulled off the Fellsway and headed east down Emerald Street. An unidentified person then fired a number of gunshots out the window of the car at the group of Malden teens. Miraculously, none of the intended targets – most of whom were later identified as Malden young people – were injured or even killed, though bullet holes were later identified by police in at least one of the vehicles.

Victims in two other non-related Malden shooting incidents were not so fortunate. These two incidents did not involve Malden residents – neither victims nor shooters – but two people were shot. One shooting took place at Overlook Ridge Apartments on the city’s east side at the Malden-Revere city line on June 18. A suspect from outside the city was arrested and is still being held in connection with the incident, where a woman – also a non-Malden resident – was shot and remains hospitalized.

A third shooting took place in broad daylight just over a week ago in the middle of Malden Square right outside a busy pizza shop. Again, this incident involved a victim that was not from Malden and not random, apparently involving a dispute over drugs. A man was shot and treated at a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The alleged shooter, who apparently lived in a number of places, including Lynn and Malden, was arrested within nine hours of the brazen, mid-Sunday afternoon shooting – in Malden – and remains in custody.

Just one of these incidents occurring this summer would have been considered unsettling. But three? In a span of just under three weeks? Beyond alarming.

In the world we live in, with gun violence erupting across our nation all too frequently and often in the unlikeliest of places, it is not entirely shocking that it can and will happen in Malden. But at the very least, it is extremely unsettling when happens like this:

• Right in downtown Malden on a sunny Sunday afternoon with lots of people walking around and driving by
• In the lobby of a fully inhabited apartment building in Malden’s second-largest residential complex late on a weekend night
• Or on a quiet, residential street in the wee hours of a holiday morning

We have faith in our Police Department to protect us and maintain order and safety in our community. But they also need our assistance and cooperation.

Longtime Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon said it best at Thursday night’s Emergency Public Safety Meeting at the I-A, telling the audience, “Please call the police when you see or hear anything at all that you do not feel comfortable with on your street and in your neighborhood. You are our eyes and ears.”

Malden is a safe place to live, but we have to watch out for each other and keep communicating with our police department to keep it that way. Stay vigilant and be safe, Malden.