Jordon Cooper is shaken after a brutal attack on his son.

A long-time resident of the core neighbourhoods of Saskatoon, Cooper often writes about inner-city life in his weekly column in The Star Phoenix. He has also worked for years helping homeless people in the city.

Yesterday afternoon, his 15-year-old son Mark was sent to hospital after a brutal daytime beating while walking home from Bedford Road Collegiate.

"In some ways, growing up in a core neighbourhood, you see a lot of violence," said Cooper. "But it is different when it touches you directly."

The 15-year-old doesn't remember much about the assault, other than that his backpack was stolen. He was given a concussion and his jaw was cracked.

"It's such a random thing," said Cooper. "I think that's what so scares people. There wasn't a motive. He wasn't in a high risk time of day. It was 3:45 in the afternoon walking home from school."

Cooper and his wife made a formal complaint to police, but he doesn't believe the case will ever be solved.

"The police were extremely helpful when we talked to them, but there's really nothing to go on," he said. "A lot of time has passed now, and there's very limited detail."

77 offences in Mayfair in the past month

There were 77 reported police offences in the Mayfair community over the past month, the majority happening along 33rd Street.

Inspector Brian Shalovelo said officers are aware of the problem.

"There is fewer officers per thousand people on the east side of Saskatoon because our calls for service are less. But where do we put our services?" he said. "We put them to where the community's greatest needs are and that is in those neighbourhoods you mentioned."

Shalovelo said they are meeting almost daily to find new strategies to thwart these assaults including using the police airplane to patrol the area and street beat teams in the problem areas.

But police stress they need the help of people in Saskatoon to continue reporting these cases.

CBC has learned from the family that the school made headway on Thursday in finding out who was responsible for the assault on Mark Copper, thanks to some students who have come forward.

In the meantime, the Coopers say they are now deciding whether it's time to move away from the city's core.

"You go, 'What could I have done differently?'" he said. "Outside of maybe moving to a safer city, or moving to one of the far suburbs, what do you do with your kids?"