Shooting renews debate about public housing

Any such policy is inherently flawed, they say, placing two vulnerable populations with different needs and often conflicting lifestyles into an uneasy mix.

Advocates for the mentally ill say such concerns are misguided. People with mental illness are less likely to commit violent crimes than the general population, they say, and interact well with neighbors in all types of housing. With adequate support, they lead stable and productive lives.

“These incidents are very rare,’’ said mental health advocate Howard Trachtman. “There are many crimes committed by people without mental illness, and you don’t hear about all the people [with mental health problems who are] doing well in mixed complexes.’’

Without reserved spots in public housing for the elderly and disabled, younger people with disabilities would struggle to find subsidized apartments, advocates say. Nationally, the number of public housing units has declined sharply over the past 15 years, and little is being built.

But for many housing officials, the shooting in Brighton on Wednesday morning, which forced a frantic evacuation and led to a tense standoff with police, realized their deepest fears. Authorities say Randy Moore, a 54-year-old with a history of mental illness, shot his downstairs neighbor, William Thomas, 75, in the chest as he sat inside his apartment in his wheelchair.

Moore later fired multiple rounds at police, nearly hitting one officer in the head. After speaking at length with a crisis negotiator, Moore surrendered without incident.

He pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Thursday, and it was not clear what precipitated the violence.

After learning of the shooting, Bill McGonagle, the head of the Boston Housing Authority, said Moore was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had lived in city housing for many years, and said Thomas’s death underlined the risks of placing residents with serious mental illness alongside elderly residents.