A man was rushed to a hospital Tuesday from Cambridge’s Port neighborhood with life-threatening injuries from gunfire, police said.
Gunfire was heard shortly before 9:13 p.m. Tuesday at 131 Harvard St., bringing police to the scene, said Cambridge Police Department superintendent of operations Pauline Wells in an email. Witnesses said they heard three to five shots and that they may have come from a vehicle that afterward sped to Portland Street. Though scanner reports as the event was unfolding said ShotSpotter gunshot-detecting technology was not triggered, Wells said Thursday that ShotSpotter did activate.
“Arriving units located a male suffering from a gunshot wound in front of the tennis courts,” Wells said in a Thursday email. “Initial witness statements indicate that older males were playing cards in front of the tennis courts and several youths were also in the area when shots were fired. At this time, it is unknown who the intended target was. It is believed that all youths fled the area.”
The victim was a 48-year-old man from Cambridge with a gunshot wound to the left hip, police said. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, according to scanner reports, and Wells said Thursday that the man survived the surgery and remains hospitalized. Two cars and a building were also hit by gunfire.
A crime scene was established at the location, known as the Port Landing apartments, and a loaded .9 mm Glock pistol, as well as 10 shell casings, were found, police said. Detectives stayed on the scene for hours “in what is a very active investigation,” Wells said. More possible gunfire was heard at 10:29 p.m. on Washington Street, based on a call from a tip line, but it could not be confirmed and officers conjectured it could have been fireworks.
It was Cambridge’s seventh gunfire incident of the year – not including an accidental discharge by a police officer – and the third since June 26 taking place in The Port neighborhood. In two of the incidents this year people were struck by gunfire, for a total of three people injured.
In the most recent previous gunfire incident, which was July 4, police responded at 10:05 p.m. and found shell casings in “multiple areas” around Greene-Rose Heritage Park – one block west from Tuesday’s incident. A witness saw a man with a handgun run toward Broadway, another block north of Dickinson, according to scanner reports.
Massachusetts State Police investigators assigned to the District Attorney’s office are assisting Cambridge Police with the investigation. Anyone with information about Tuesday’s gunfire is encouraged to contact the police department’s Special Investigations Unit anonymously, either at cambridgepolice.org/TIPS or by calling a tip line at (617) 349-9151.
This post was updated July 17, 2024, with new information throughout provided by police.
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I travel by here on a daily basis.
This year large groups are regularly gathering in front of the tennis courts and playground, drinking and smoking marijuana in public.
Ive noticed particular individuals who begin hanging out there early in the day even when no one is around and are there all day and into the evening.
Having a couple beers discreetly in the park is one thing. This is pass around the bottle and drink so much you can smell it as you walk by.
Perhaps just a coincidence, but maybe we should start discouraging illegal block parties in front of playgrounds now that multiple people have been shot there. Just a suggestion.
And still, the City Council doesn’t allow CCTV cameras so that the police might be able to see who fired the weapon.
Wow,and I was thinking of taking my grandkids to the tennis court to learn to play tennis and enjoy some outdoor exercise. But I guess the men with the guns, bottles of booze and weed have top priority and the rest of us can stay locked up in our apartments. I guess that’s why there are no CCTV cameras in the area – it might cramp the shooters style?