Connolly calls for helping hand to aid families of murder victims
Standing at the steps of the Dorchester home Mary Franklin and her husband once owned, City Councilor John Connolly today called for the creation of a city program to provide more assistance to families who have lost loved ones to violence.
Franklin — whose husband Melvin was shot and killed in a possible robbery attempt just a few hundred feet from their home in 1996 — spoke about the need to support relatives of victims.
“We have traumatized mothers raising traumatized kids,’’ Franklin said at the small, emotional event on Woodrow Avenue. “We have thousands of people in the city living with this pain every day.’’
Among other steps, Connolly’s program would hold vigils for homicide victims on the one-year anniversary of their slayings.
Connolly stood silent as Franklin and two other women recounted the stories of how their loved ones were killed and how the loss has impacted them.
“We have all of these young people dying on our streets,’’ Connolly said. “We need to try to get the whole city to listen, to listen to the stories of the survivors.’’
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