A group of Black clergy members in Boston are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction for the person responsible for the fatal shooting of a 73-year-old grandmother in Dorchester last month.
DeLois Brown was sitting on her front porch on Olney Street enjoying spring-like weather when she was struck down by stray bullets.
“We don't know who the gun person is but we in the Black faith community are deeply disturbed that an elder of the community has been murdered,” said Rev. Kevin Peterson of the new Democracy Coalition.
Gunfire broke out on Olney St. in the late afternoon on April 10. Police arrived on the scene around 6 p.m. to find Brown severely wounded. She was pronounced dead that evening at a local hospital.
Brown had been planning a family cookout for the next day, according to relatives.
Rev. Eugene Rivers said at a press conference in Dorchester this week the person or people responsible for taking Brown’s life need to be held accountable.
Peterson said police have received some tips, but the reward is extra incentive. “There is, unfortunately, a culture of no-snitching but we think that this call, which is connected to a $10,000 reward is one that will be a motivating factor.”
The money for the reward was raised by the Boston Youth Violence Task Force and the New Democracy Coalition.
Ministers and community activists have begun posting reward flyers on poles, stop signs and bulletin boards in barber shops and hair salons throughout Dorchester hoping someone will turn in the person who killed Brown.
