CAMBRIDGE — As the sun set over Donnelly Field, dozens of people tossed frisbees and passed around volleyballs. Each of the park’s four basketball hoops hosted its own cluster of players, but teenagers welcomed new players too.
Colorful backpacks hung from a nearby bench, and two small bicycles laid sideways atop a patch of neatly trimmed grass. Aside from a police car stationed feet from the court’s tall metal perimeter just before 9 p.m., there was no sign of a double shooting late last month that has shaken up the East Cambridge neighborhood.
A few blocks away, just an hour or so earlier, more than 50 residents and a dozen city officials gathered at a Catholic church for a community meeting to discuss safety at the field, a sprawling recreation area that is a hub for children and adults alike.
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Unsettled locals reflected on the violent incident and city officials tried to calm their fears. Mayor Denise Simmons said the city “does not exist within a protective bubble,” but assured attendees that her office is devoted to cultivating safe neighborhoods.
“We try and work really hard to create a world where people can grow up comfortably and safely,” she said to residents in attendance last Thursday at St. Anthony’s Parish. “It’s incredibly frustrating and saddening for all of us to have to convene at meetings like this one.”
Police arrested Yonayvi Cruceta, a 23-year-old Cambridge resident, last Tuesday on firearms charges for his alleged involvement in the shooting. Not guilty pleas on several related charges were entered on Cruceta’s behalf during his arraignment at Cambridge District Court.
Police commissioner Christine Elow praised the community for their swift action on the night of the May 23 shooting, citing “tons” of 911 calls as the main reason emergency crews responded to the scene before the situation deteriorated further.
Cruceta, who was found on nearby Willow Street, and a 22-year-old woman found on the basketball court, both suffered non-life threatening injuries after a confrontation occurred on the court. Cruceta fired the first shot, police said.
Burhan Azeem, a city councilor who lives across the street from the basketball court, said he ran outside upon hearing a series of gunshots the night of the shooting.
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“By the time I got there, the girl who had gotten shot was bleeding from her leg,” said Azeem, who recalled another man fashioning a tourniquet from his shirt to stop the blood. “He was really frightened and acted really fast.”
Elow said police don’t believe the shootings were random, nor are they considered gang activity. She noted there have been four gun-related incidents in the city this year, compared to two incidents for the same period last year.
“It’s always unsettling whenever you have gunfire in your community, and this is no exception,” said Elow, who has served the department since 1995. “Any time shots are fired in a park, it’s a safety concern for the public.”
Over a decade has passed since a double shooting on Willow Street killed 16 year-old Charlene Holmes, but several residents said the recent violence leaves them with similar feelings of despair. Others said they’ve felt tensions rising in the field over the last few years.
Some cited the city’s lack of youth programming as a factor that contributes to groups of young people that occupy the field late into the night. But Ryan Morhard, a father of two, said he knows and trusts most people who frequent the park.
“Some of the kids that make me feel safe about sending my kids out there are the kids who were on the court [during the shooting],” said Morhard, 38. “I hope my kids don’t grow up to behave exactly like those kids behave, but I know them and they make my kids feel safer.”
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Elow said police presence at the field will increase in coming weeks. But multiple attendees questioned the approach, pointing out that installing cameras and heightening surveillance won’t protect anyone from what already occurred.
Two residents said they found bullet holes in their walls from the shooting.
“The blue light coming in our windows and covering our entire house for days afterwards doesn’t make me feel safer,” said Ben, a resident who asked to be identified only by his first name, out of concern for his family’s safety. “It just reminds me that I’m at a crime scene.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Morhard urged the community moving forward to support one another.
“We should take care of her,” Morhard said of the female shooting victim. “She got shot, but it could have been any of us out there.”
Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers.