A recent string of violence in downtown Boston led Mayor Michelle Wu to hold a secret City Hall meeting to strategize with the police commissioner, state and city officials, business leaders, and community stakeholders.

The meeting was closed to the press and held behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon in Wu’s office, with roughly 40 people in attendance, according to a spokesperson for the mayor and a city councilor who attended the conclave.

The mayor’s office declined to make Wu available for comment to a Herald reporter waiting outside her fifth-floor office during the private meeting, citing scheduling restraints, and did not respond to a written inquiry.

“I received an invitation two days ago,” City Councilor Ed Flynn told the Herald in his office after attending the hour-long meeting, which he said was sparked by “the recent violence that has taken place in downtown Boston and Boston Common.”

Flynn cited a homicide that occurred in front of the MBTA Green Line station on the edge of Boston Common on Tremont Street last week, an act of violence that he said escalated further when the suspect allegedly proceeded to walk down to the Chinatown gate and assault a college student in broad daylight.

“But also certainly the five shootings, five people getting shot over a period of three weeks,” Flynn said. “I think it was a combination of all of that.”

Flynn, who represents the downtown and has been raising the alarm on safety issues there in recent weeks, said he was the only city councilor in attendance. The other downtown councilor Sharon Durkan did not attend, but was represented by a staff member, he said.

“Residents are concerned,” Flynn said. “Businesses are concerned, and their employees as well. They don’t feel safe at times in downtown Boston, throughout Boston Common, and in Chinatown. This was an opportunity for us to come together to recommit a willingness … to address these outstanding issues.”

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House Ways and Means chair who represents parts of the downtown, said he also attended the meeting, which he described as “laying the groundwork” for future conversations on downtown safety.

Michlewitz said the meeting was focused on “getting perspective” from downtown residents, businesses, elected officials, police, and residents amid a string of “frustrating” violence that followed a “strong first half of the summer” highlighted by the World Cup and other large downtown events.

“I think the area is still safe,” Michlewitz told the Herald. “But if some people feel unsafe, then the work has to be done to try to rectify that.”

Flynn said he focused his closed-door remarks on the city not having enough police officers, a lack of sufficient patrol officers in the downtown and Chinatown neighborhoods, which has led to “overstretched” police working 16-hour shifts, and the city’s need to better recruit and retain officers.

“I also focused on what’s happening in Chinatown, including the lawlessness at times in the Rose Kennedy Greenway park, the Mary Soo Hoo Park area, where we are constantly seeing people engaged in drug use, drug dealing, and selling of stolen property,” Flynn said.

Just days earlier, Flynn highlighted a bizarre incident that occurred in Chinatown, where a man was arrested on a warrant after he allegedly attempted to sell stolen meat in full view of police officers and elected officials on Monday — as Flynn and state Sen. Nick Collins held a community safety meeting.

Flynn said the man wasn’t attending the meeting, but was off to the side, about 30 yards away from the gathered police officers, elected officials and community members.

Once the meeting ended, Flynn said he and an officer walked over to the man after seeing him allegedly selling meat in the Rose Kennedy Greenway park.

The man, identified in a police report as Michael Wiltshire, 50, of Everett, was arrested on a warrant for daytime breaking and entering that was issued out of Middlesex Superior Court last Thursday.

Wiltshire was also charged with buying, receiving, and/or possessing stolen property, for the alleged stolen meat peddling. The arresting officer said he was stationed at the community event when he saw a man who appeared to be showing people “an item from a bag.”

Wiltshire told police he did not have permits to sell the item, and claimed the meats were purchased by his girlfriend with her EBT card, when asked if he could produce receipts, per the report.

Police said Wiltshire could not provide proof of purchase, and was told that he “cannot be selling items without a permit and the meat was lukewarm to the touch in the summer heat” — a “health hazard.”

The meats were described in the police report as five recovered/stolen steaks valued at $91.37.

Flynn said selling stolen meat has become a “major public health issue” in Chinatown, where sellers prey on low-income residents there who lack grocery access. He said he’s witnessed meat sales there over the past several weeks, including the incident that resulted in an arrest on Monday.

He raised the issue formally by sending a letter to Police Commissioner Michael Cox, and the heads of the city’s inspectional services department and public health commission on Wednesday after attending the mayor’s downtown safety session.

“I believe the city needs to put more effort and resources in providing a safer and healthier Downtown Boston and Chinatown and the Leather District,” Flynn said. “We can’t forget about these neighborhoods. They are important, and this issue has to be a top priority for city officials. I’m going to continue to make this my top priority, and I want the city officials to follow my lead.”

Michlewitz, a Wu ally, spoke more favorably of the city’s efforts on downtown safety amid the mayor’s public silence on the recent crime spree.

“I think that we made a lot of progress in ‘25,” Michlewitz said. “We’ve certainly had some serious incidents that have taken place in the last couple weeks, but I do think overall it’s still a safe environment. Those incidents that took place certainly are frustrating.”

“I do think that we have some work to do to get us back to where we were a year ago,” Michlewitz said, adding that he’s “confident” the city can build on past work “to make sure that we get back there again.”

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