‘Tonight my home was a crime scene’: Tito Jackson reflects after bullet strikes his Roxbury residence
"I have lived in this house for 45 years and I have never experienced this."
Tito Jackson has been to hundreds of crime scenes, by his own count, and he’s lived in his Roxbury home on Schuyler Street for over four decades.
In all that time, that violence had never made it to his own doorstep though — until Thursday night.
“Tonight my home was a crime scene,” Jackson, an activist, business owner, and former city councilor, wrote in a Facebook post. “My nephew was sitting outside on our front steps and suddenly he heard gunshots and ducked for cover. Thank God that he is alright and thank God that my neighbor’s car was empty and no one was in the path of the bullet that traveled through it.”
According to a Boston police spokesperson, authorities received a report of shots fired near Jackson’s home on Schuyler Street around 6:43 p.m. No one was injured.
Still, a frustrated Jackson explained how the incident was an unnecessary and difficult experience in a year where the global coronavirus pandemic has already posed threats of its own — a battle he knows personally.
“I am angry that at a time when we try [too] hard to stay alive and not be a Covid-19 death, someone recklessly drove up my street shooting. Thank God no lives were lost and no one was injured,” Jackson wrote. He also posted a photo of a bullet in the side of his house.
“I have lived in this house for 45 years and I have never experienced this,” he continued. “I never want anyone to ever have to experience what we experienced tonight. No one should have to experience their home being a crime scene. I am frustrated that after dodging Covid-19 which I had in March, my nephew had to dodge bullets on the front steps of our home. It is not ok. This should not be normal or normalized.”
The bullet lodged in the siding of Jackson’s home is one of many fired on the streets of Boston during a year of heavy gun violence.
As of Nov. 1, the city had seen 41 fatal and 195 non-fatal shootings so far this year, up from 27 and 149 recorded at this time last year, police data shows. Statistics for both categories are also above the average of the previous five years of 32 fatal and 160 non-fatal shootings.
“Please pray for our city, neighborhood and families,” Jackson wrote. “Please pray for every shooting to get the attention that this one is getting. Please pray for my heart to continue to feel love and turn away from anger.”
Read the full post:
https://www.facebook.com/titohjackson/posts/10164315010185371
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