While last week’s restaurant breakin came as a shock to some Beacon Hill residents who were abruptly woken up in the early hours of September 24 by the sounds of gunfire, violent crime in the neighborhood trend downward and local officials remain steadfast in the belief in public safety.

“It’s incredibly rare and Beacon Hill is one of the safest neighborhoods in Boston,” said State Representative Jay Livingstone who represents Beacon Hill and the West End. “Mayor Wu likes to point out how Boston is one of the safest urban cities in the United States and I think that’s true. We’re lucky and with respect to this incident, I’m pleased the police responded quickly.”

“I’m glad they were able to minimize the harm to everybody, and I hope the person that broke in gets the help that they need.”

Livingstone said that if residents see something suspicious or of concern, then they should contact Boston Police Department adding that police were alerted to the situation on Mt. Vernon St. through a 911 call from someone who heard the breakin.

According to a report by CBS News, officers found the suspect holding a knife in back alley and were unsuccessful in subduing them with tasers, ultimately firing their guns at the suspect multiple times. Officers thereafter provided him with aid, and he was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report.

The man was suffering some kind of mental health issues, according to Livingstone.

“The police are going to respond very promptly, and they made people the priority and I think they’ll continue to do so,” said Livingstone.

The data backs Beacon Hill’s safety as well. According to a preliminary report from the Boston Regional Intelligence Center tracking citywide crime, incidents are down between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 this year than that same time period in 2024 in Boston Police District A1, which covers beacon hill and other downtown Boston neighborhoods.

Most kinds of crime in this district, including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault are down this year, with many below a five-year average for the area.

Auto theft and commercial burglary, however, are both up this year compared to 2024. There have been 103 incidents of commercial burglary this year, well over 2024’s 60 and the 5-year-average of 65.4.

In total 1 A has had 1,694 crimes reported, 2% lower than last year’s 1,721, yet still higher than the 5-year-average of 1,585. That piece of the data follows much in line with overall trends throughout the entire city, which has seen an overall decrease in reports of 4% this year com-pared to last while remaining just slightly higher than the five-year average.