For Lakeyia Mumford, the scar on her right cheek is a painful reminder of the bullet that pierced the comfort of her home, grazing her and hitting her aunt in the torso while they braided their hair and practiced dance routines.
Both collapsed to the floor. Her aunt screamed: "Don't leave me. I'm shot."
"She kept repeating it," said Lakeyia, whose experience helps her speak with a wisdom beyond her years.
It was October 2006, in the middle of the afternoon. She was 7 at the time, and her aunt, Tamara Mair, was 11 - two young girls in a frenzy that no one their age should have to endure.
And yet, Boston's street violence has proven that no victim is too young. Over the last six years, the number of teenagers, adolescents, and, in extreme cases, infants rushed to a hospital with bullet wounds has surged as shooters seem to have abandoned any hesitation to pull the trigger.
"It's just crazy out there; they don't care," said LaWanda Myrick, Lakeyia's mother.
In the last three months, a 7-year-old was hit while playing kickball with friends in Mission Hill, a 4-year-old was shot while sitting on his porch in Roxbury, and a 5-month-old was wounded in Mattapan while cradled in her father's arms.
Last week, a 16-year-old was shot in West Roxbury, a 17-year-old on his way to school was also shot and wounded in Dorchester, and a 3-month old baby was nearly hit in Dorchester when a bullet pierced her bedroom wall. On Monday, a 17-year-old was shot and killed in Mission Hill.
Overall, the number of shooting victims 17 years and younger, fatal and nonfatal, has nearly tripled over the last half-decade, from 23 in 2002 to 67 in 2007. In addition, young victims represent an expanding proportion of all shooting victims over that same time frame, from 13 percent in 2002 to more than 21 percent in 2007. The growing number of young victims has also caused the average age of shooting victims to fall nearly a year-and-a-half, from 24.6 to 23.2.
The pattern seems to be holding steady this year, with 53 victims 17 years and younger through Sept. 14, according to police data. These numbers are part of an overall increase in shootings since 2002, the earliest year detailed police records of shootings were available.
Police, crime analysts, and community members say they are dealing with a generation that has grown so brazen that assailants will turn to guns as a first resort in even the most seemingly inconsequential disputes.
"It's no-holds barred," said the Rev. Bruce H. Wall, senior pastor of Global Ministries Christian Church in Dorchester. He said that today's shooters lack any of the code of honor that even the toughest of gang members of years past used to follow.
"Part of the code was families were off-limits, but that code does not exist anymore," said Wall, who visits city streets with his antiviolence message.
Glenn Pierce, a professor at the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University researching gun trafficking and gun violence, said one reason for the increase in young victims is the age of the shooters themselves.
"You have kids that actually have access to guns," he said. And with that youthfulness, he added, comes a lack of responsibility, sensitivity, for the violence.
Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said police are trying to aggressively confront today's violence, serving as mentors and offering neighborhood programs and summer youth jobs. He said programs are working, adding that overall shootings of all ages have stabilized at 324 in 2007 since a recent high of 377 in 2006.
Davis said the brazen shootings Boston is seeing are part of an ugly trend occurring in cities throughout the country. This summer, a 6-year-old was caught in gunfire while he played with friends in Baltimore and the spraying of bullets at a parade in Connecticut hit a 7-year-old. Last month, a 14-year-old was killed and a 13-year-old injured when someone opened fire in a crowd in Buffalo.
In Boston, teenagers are getting shot for things as petty as looking at someone's girlfriend, crossing the wrong street, or glancing at someone the wrong way, any type of perceived disrespect, Davis said.
"That's what makes this so complex," he said. "There's no logic to it. It's fueled by the temper of a young, adolescent male who is just very prone to violence, and it's really a comment on the culture of guns and gangs in the popular media and in urban areas throughout the country."
Davis has called for tougher mandatory sentences for those who blindly shoot in crowds or near bystanders, saying such blatant disregard for safety deserves its own classification of crime.
"All of those incidents are terrible situations that certainly deserve our attention," he said. "And we need to do all we can to make sure people who indiscriminately use firearms are held accountable."
Such episodes resonate with teenage students who are peers of today's shooters and victims. Students and school officials still mourn for Trina Persad, a 10-year-old killed by stray bullets in 2002. Steven Odom, a 13-year-old who was a popular student, was going home after playing basketball in Dorchester when he was killed by a shot meant for someone else in October 2007.
"I think students were concerned, because he was doing all the right things, because he was someone like them who expected to come home pretty safe and ready to go the next day," said Carol R. Johnson, superintendent of the Boston public schools.
According to a Harvard University survey of high school students in 2006, a fifth of the 1,200 students questioned in schools across the city had witnessed a shooting and did not feel safe in their neighborhood. More than 40 percent believed it was easy to get a gun, and 28 percent said they did not feel safe on the bus or train.
Mary Vriniotis, a research specialist with the Harvard School of Public Health's Youth Violence Prevention Center, said an underlying cause of the shootings and students' fear of them is the accessibility of guns.
"Indiscriminate shootings wouldn't happen if there was no gun," she said.
The gunfire that pierced Lakeyia's house also hit the home next door. The family does not know who was targeted. Certainly not Lakeyia, who is 9 now but still has the same smile and braided hair. "I just feel grateful we're still alive, unlike some people," she said.
Two years later, the family has yet to recover. Lakeyia and her aunt both underwent counseling. For a while, there was a fear of anyone who walked or drove by the home. Bullet marks remain on the walls. One is covered with a picture of Jesus.
Lakeyia hears about other shootings, but tries not to think of hers. She tries to deflect questions about the mark on her cheek. She tells friends she fell riding a bike, that it's just a scar.
Read the Boston Globe Article Here
Matt Carroll of the Globe staff assisted in analyzing police data.
