HUDSON— ”It’s the ugly side of Hudson and there are a lot of us that are going through this, and others that have no conception of what it’s like to live in these parts of the neighborhood, day-in and day-out,” Hudson resident Alison Murphy said Thursday. Murphy’s 5th Street home sustained bullet damage in Wednesday’s shooting, the city’s fourth since April.
Murphy heard about the shooting when she returned home from work Wednesday evening. She went outside and found no damage. But when she went upstairs she found a bullet hole in the wall above her headboard. The bullet had come through her second-floor bedroom window.
“There’s a chance someone could have been hit. There could have been someone or pets in that room at the time of the shootings,” Murphy said.
“With all of the shootings that have happened so far this year, we seem to be on the same course as 2017,” Murphy said.
Police investigated at least eight shootings in Hudson in 2017.
Murphy encouraged her neighbors to be on the lookout and to report whatever they see to the police.
“We have a lot of children on the block and families going to and from the library. It’s getting very dangerous,” Murphy said.
The shootings have discouraged Murphy from living in Hudson.
“I’ve been here for 16 years, and this is not something I want to go through,” Murphy said.
“It’s a bunch of young people, running around, shooting guns, with no regard for other people’s lives or safety,” Murphy said.
“It’s very disconcerting and we need to figure out a way for society to figure out this problem. These are young people resorting to violence, as opposed to working problems out,” Murphy said.
Murphy hopes members of the community can come together to work on this problem.
“We have to think about, how did we get here, and what can we do to make sure other young people do not go down this road, and how do we help those that are already down this road,” Murphy said.
“This is a big problem, and everyone needs to help contribute to the solution,” Murphy said.
“The police need help and the community needs help. The solution is not punishing the police broadly, nor do you paint a certain community with the same brush,” Murphy said.
As far as the damage to her 5th Street residence is concerned, Murphy will have to order a new window sash and have it installed, she said.
She hopes the community will pull together to help change things.
“You can’t solve a problem without shining a bright light on it,” she said.