SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield tradition – the erection of makeshift memorials to city homicide victims – just took a hit.

Springfield police removed a street shrine to 25-year-old Anthony Serrano, the city's latest homicide victim, after receiving complaints from neighbors, according to Sgt. John Delaney.

"If you lived on this street, you wouldn't want that in front of your house because it could attract more violence," Delaney told Western Mass News, TV partner of MassLive / The Republican.

Police say they're empathetic to family members' need to mourn, but lit candles, posters, photos and other mementos placed on city streets and sidewalks constitute ordinance violations.

"We removed it (Thursday). Matter of fact, I was here," Delaney told Western Mass News Friday. "We took the signs and the pictures of the victim, and the victim's son was here. I handed it right to him, so he could keep it as a keepsake. We're very sensitive to this at the Springfield Police Department," he said.

The memorial has been taken down by authorities at least twice already, and police say they're prepared to remove it again if another one crops up.

Anthony Serrano was killed in a gang-related shooting last Sunday, June 7, near the corner of Malden and Allen streets in the city's Forest Park neighborhood, police said. He was the city's twelfth homicide victim this year.

The day after the murder, Serrano's son, 9-year-old J'Den Omar Serrano, gathered with family and friends at a curbside memorial to Serrano. "He was awesome. He was my best friend," J'Den said of his father.

To police, however, Serrano was a known entity, a criminal with a history of drug and other offenses – including a 2011 slashing that seriously injured a man.

The shrine to Serrano was drawing crowds to the street, according to police, who received multiple complaints. But some neighborhood residents were upset the memorial was taken down.

"You know, that's somebody's child. You leave that there, you know what I'm saying," Angel Pena, who lives just a few houses away from the homicide scene, told Western Mass News.

Western Mass News - WGGB/WSHM