Boston Blotter: Putting Out the Fire

A man was shot and killed yesterday afternoon on Columbia Road in Dorchester. The killer ran off and got away, which absolutely floors us because this happened in the daytime before witnesses.

We don't like to say anything disparaging about police officers, but you'd think that, given the circumstances, they could have rounded up the killer quickly unless the guy had a jetpack strapped to him. If the Globe is writing about how many people were gathering around the crime scene and how many witnesses, you'd think someone - officer or civilian - would have been able to round up the perp. We're hoping the BPD can catch the guy soon based on witness information and evidence.

Soon afterwards, another man was shot in the back and lived. The Globe quotes Reverend William E. Dickerson giving the BPD some extremely helpful advice: "If you don't put out the fire right here, the fire could spread." The Herald snapped a photo of Ed Davis at the site of the killing on Columbia Road, so maybe the message is working its way to the top.

Compared to that, everything else seems like fluff, the standard blotter material such as pervs in libraries (revoke his card, people!) and local firefighters rescuing a woman and her baked ziti.

Yes, it's true. We had to read that one twice. A chimney fell off a woman's home on Dartmouth Street, landing on the sidewalk. Firefighters rescued a woman inside. Apparently, it wasn't urgent since she was able to bring her ziti with her. If the chimney fell from the top of your house, would you make a mad dash for the ziti or would you run the hell out of there? We assume you'd choose the latter.

All charges are alleged until proven under law. Image of crime-scene tape from crimescene.com.