By George P. Hassett

Responding to several violent and drug-related incidents in Winter Hill, police this week increased patrols in the neighborhood, focusing on the area surrounding the Mystic Housing Development.

“We saw the area getting busier and the chief [Anthony Holloway] wanted to move some resources there,” said Police Captain Paul Upton.

On March 26, a 15-year-old Malden boy was shot on Sewall Street, hit in the lung with a bullet fired from a passing car.

In the wake of the shooting some residents said they were scared to walk the streets at night.

‚ÄúMyself, I’m a bit uneasy too when it gets to be 9 at night. I’ll usually stay inside when it’s that late,‚Äù said Ward Four Alderman Walter Pero last week. He said he had been hearing similar concerns from neighbors.

Upton said the shooting and a spike in drug activity caused police to form a special operation to combat illegal activity in Winter Hill.

On Friday Captain Charles Femino developed an action plan and additional uniformed and plain clothes officers patrolled the streets, police said. By 2:37 a.m. Saturday, they  found a loaded gun in the jacket of a Cambridge man who had run a stop sign in his Mercedes Benz, police said.

Dimitri Guerrier, 22, of Cambridge, was stopped by police at Mystic Avenue and Fellsway West. Police said he began to stutter when asked for his identification and gave them two false names. He was arrested and charged with furnishing a false name or social security number to police.

As police removed Guerrier’s jacket from the car they allegedly found a silver automatic handgun loaded with a full magazine. Police said Guerrier does not have a license to carry a firearm and charged him with carrying a firearm with ammunition.

Upton would not say if the increase in patrols for the neighborhood would continue.