Boston, MA - December 23: Boston, MA - May 19: Jean McGuire, the first Black woman to serve on the Boston City Council and a founding executive of METCO, poses for a portrait in 2016. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
A 91-year-old civil rights pioneer was stabbed multiple times while she walked her dog through a Boston park Wednesday evening, with the pup coming to her rescue and injuring the assailant amidst the attack, according to authorities.
Jean McGuire, the first Black social worker to work in the Boston Public School system, was walking her dog Bailey through Playstead Park in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood around 8:30 p.m., when an unidentified person approached and stabbed her, CBS Boston reports.
While McGuire was taken to a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, “preliminary investigations reveal the suspect” may have been also injured in the attack.
“The victim was transported to a local hospital where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries,” Boston Police stated in a press release. “Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect may have been injured during this attack.”
It’s still unclear as to the exact motive behind the attack, and officials did not say whether the incident was racially motivated or not.
Police said McGuire’s 8-year-old Blue Weimaraner dog fought off the attacker to protect her, and “the suspect may have been injured (by her dog) during this attack.”
Jeriline Brady-McGinnis told the Boston Globe that her friend fought for her life, and even kicked the attacker “in the nuts” while her dog was “working him over.”
“[Jean] attacked this guy. She was kicking him in the nuts while Bailey was working him over. And he tried to run, and the dog chased him. And [the attacker] disappeared out of sight,” Brady-Mcginnis told the newspaper. “Bailey stood up for her.”
In 1981, McGuire became the first woman of color to be elected to the Boston School Committee, and helped found METCO – the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity – a program started in the 1960s to help desegregate schools within the city.
“To just imagine this happened is unbelievable. But I know she is strong and will come out of this doing what she’s been doing in this community for decades,” METCO CEO Milly Arbaje-Thomas told CBS News. “She is an amazing woman, a powerhouse, and every time you mention Jean McGuire’s name people know she’s a force to be reckoned with.”
The city’s mayor later met with McGuire at the hospital, and said she was “disgusted and angry to know that an elder in our community had to fear for her safety going about her daily routine.”
“I’m disgusted and angry to know that an elder in our community had to fear for her safety going about her daily routine, walking her dog,” Mayor Michelle Wu said. “I’ve had the chance to connect with this patient who is an inspiration in every way.”
“Detectives are urging anyone that was in the area during that time and may have witnessed this incident or observed anything suspicious to contact” police with information.
McGuire’s friend Brady-McGinnis told the Globe that “she won’t be walking alone again.”
Anyone with information should call Boston Police at 617-343-4275 or the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS.
