Community, police come together for annual basketball tournament

BOSTON — Tuesday, members of law enforcement and youth from across Boston took to the courts today in the name of peace.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's 10th annual tournament took place Tuesday at UMass Boston. It's goal is to improve police relationships with the young people they serve.

For 11-year-old Gerrell Brown, it's a chance to honor his brother Gerrod who was killed in Mildred Hailey Projects in Jamaica Plain while on his way home from work last year.

"It feels good. I get to play with the people that my brother played with before and they're a family to me," said Brown.

Gerrod Brown actually laced up his sneakers in this very tournament before he was gunned down in a Halloween shoot out.

"Outside of the street life there is something else that's positive for them to do, and basketball is one of the things my grandson loved to do," said Renna Brown.

Kai Leigh Harriott learned the importance of that lesson the hard way. The now 17-year-old was just three years old when a stray bullet paralyzed her while she sat on the third floor porch of her Roxbury triple-decker.

"We're here. We're living. We're breathing. We're being show down every day. I think that people need to be aware that teens of color are tired. We're tired of being victims of senseless crimes. Senseless violence," said Harriott.

She says that's why tournaments like this one are so important.

"It's a very tense relationship that is held because I'm pretty sure that the boys that are here today, when they walk outside in Dorchester or Hyde Park when they see a cop, even if they're not doing anything wrong, they still tense up. There's still some kind of feeling of anxiety," said Harriott.

Cox Media Group