MassLive

By Jacqueline Tempera | MassLive.com

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told victims of gun violence to "stop blaming police," urging them to instead "man up" and cooperate with investigators.

Walsh gave a heated interview to reporters following a violent July Fourth that left one man dead and another four injured in Dorchester. Gun fire broke out just steps from a party where children were playing in a bouncy house.

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'Stop blaming the police': Boston Mayor Marty Walsh reacts to Fourth of July violence. https://t.co/3XpYPNQfL9 — necn (@NECN) July 5, 2018

NECN Twitter

In an NECN video posted Thursday, Walsh demanded victims of gun violence start talking to police.

"Last night, I think we had four or five people shot," Walsh said. "The thing that's frustrating about it, not one of them are talking. No one wants to say anything. You didn't see anything? You got shot and you didn't see anything?

"The people that got shot ... you need to step up and talk about who shot you and stop blaming the police and blaming the community and blaming society," he said. "If you got shot by a gun and you know who it is, then you need to help us out."

Walsh later posted a statement to Twitter after his comments drew some outcry.

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Officers were called to 85 Fayston St. in Dorchester at about 7 p.m. on July Fourth after a fight at a party spilled out into the streets. Four men were shot, one suffering critical injuries, according to police.

The victims range in age from 22 years old to one man in his late 40s, according to police.

Hours later, police returned to the neighborhood. Officers were called to Brookford and Dacia Streets - less than a mile from the first scene - where they found a man who had been shot and killed. Late Tuesday night 31-year-old Luis Martin Pinales-Perez was shot and killed on Crawford Street in Roxbury, police said.

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Both Walsh and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans have expressed frustration over a lack of information in these and other shootings. This is a persistent problem - data published in

showed that 96 percent of gunmen involved in non-fatal shootings are never arrested.

At a press conference in May, Evans said police would focus on kids shooting other kids during the summer months. The city has seen an increase in fatal shootings this year - with 21 people dead, according to Boston police data. This is a 50 percent increase from the 14 shooting deaths in Boston at this time in 2017.

As of July 5, there had been 83 total shootings in Boston, down from 101 at this time in 2017. Stabbing deaths have also risen, according to the data.

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Jacqueline Tempera | jtempera@masslive.com

In the Thursday interview, Walsh said he was frustrated.

"You are going to hurt somebody else," he said. "If you want to kill each other - it's a horrible thing, and I don't want to stand here as mayor and say, you know, we're justifying that - you kill each other. But what happens is you kill an innocent person and you disrupt a whole community, and you send the wrong message to young people and you send the wrong message to children in the neighborhood who want to enjoy the fireworks."

"It's time for the kids that are active in the game out in the neighborhood to step up, man up, and start to take responsibility for who they are and nevermind this coward's way out of shooting each other and not telling anybody," Walsh continued. "If somebody shoots you, you gotta talk about who shot you, if you can, unless you're dead, and then if you're dead you can't say who shot you because you're not here to talk about it, and then that's a real problem."

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Walsh's language has been criticized as 'victim blaming" by some in the city. Some argue police are not building strong enough relationships with community members involved in gun violence - making the victims afraid to talk.

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I can honestly say City of Boston has the worst administration running the city ever.... https://t.co/u563eQbZDq — Mr.Grooms2You (@PlatinumChef) July 6, 2018

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Here's @marty_walsh not understanding white privilege all over the teevee. Way to not empathize with the victims here, Mr Mayor. https://t.co/T7U35xMnjn — Drew Curtis (@dreweliotcurtis) July 6, 2018

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Never ceases to amaze how callous big city mayors can sometimes be towards victims of shootings. Here's Boston mayor Marty Walsh https://t.co/8j6GOxJJTd pic.twitter.com/wnGXl8wGUv — Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) July 6, 2018

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It’s as if Mayor Walsh has learned nothing from me. Victim-blaming and more on display; not a good look. Posted by David S. Bernstein on Friday, July 6, 2018

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I can honestly say City of Boston has the worst administration running the city ever. Who in their right mind can... Posted by Gerald Grooms on Friday, July 6, 2018

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Mayor Walsh later responded through a statement issued on Twitter late Friday afternoon.