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Keller @ Large: Not Enough Being Done To Prevent Roxbury Shootout

BOSTON (CBS) - In news from overseas, how's this for a horror show?

Several American soldiers were nearly killed Tuesday in a mid-afternoon shootout in a residential neighborhood between rival terrorists that left American civilians cowering in fear in their apartments. The terrorists threw down their weapons and fled the scene as the soldiers fired back; it was a miracle that none of our people were killed. And our government issued a statement denouncing the violence and calling on local officials to do more to prevent it.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Keller @ Large March 27 2013

Can you identify which foreign nation this atrocious incident occurred in?

Don't bother trying to guess.

It happened in Boston, Massachusetts, near the corner of Warren and Waverley streets, close to churches, stores, and a T stop, not far from schools, Boston Medical Center, and the affluent precincts of the city where most of us go about our business secure in the knowledge that the sort of thing that plagues daily life in, say, Iraq, simply can't happen here.

But it does.

According to the Globe's account of the incident, it wasn't even three o'clock yet when members of the Boston police youth violence strike force found themselves in the crossfire between what's believed to have been rival street gangs.

Would we tolerate this if it had happened to our troops overseas? Or would we hear calls for a quick remedy to this appalling situation?

Unfortunately, while the timing of this nightmare was a bit unusual, the fact that it occurred is not.

And it makes you wonder why more isn't being done to make sure the law-abiding citizens who live in that neighborhood are never terrorized this way again.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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