91-Year-Old Civil Rights Leader Stabbed Multiple Times in Boston Park

Jean McGuire, the first Black social worker to work in the Boston Public Schools and a respected civil rights leader was stabbed while walking through a Boston park.

On Wednesday, the 91-year-old was strolling through Playstead Park in Jamaica Plain at about 8:30 p.m. with her dog Bailey when an unidentified person attacked and stabbed McGuire at least five times, CBS Boston reports.

“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.”

McGuire “fought for her life,” her friend Jeriline Brady-McGinnis told the Boston Globe.

“[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 outlet. “Bailey (her dog) stood up for her.”

Police believe the fight resulted in the suspect possibly sustaining injuries too.

McGuire is co-founder of METCO, Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, an organization that helped lead the charge to desegregate Boston schools in the 1960s. She was a pivotal community member and in 1981 became the first African American woman to be elected to the Boston School Committee.

“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 Mayor Michelle Wu said McGuire is on the mend and expected to survive.

“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,” Wu said. “I’ve had the chance to connect with this patient who is an inspiration in every way.”