A high school student was killed Wednesday afternoon in a shooting in Dorchester, according to police.
The shooting happened near the Jeremiah Burke High School just after 2 p.m. Police said the 17-year-old victim died at the scene. Two other teens and a woman in her 60s were hit by bullets. They are all expected to be OK.
“There’s way too many guns on the street, in the hands of young kids,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “This is a sad day, when a 17-year-old life is lost, we should be outraged and we should be stepping up.”
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said the student was in school earlier in the day and was shot half a block from the school. Trauma counselors will be available at the school on Thursday.
“This is a tough situation that we have in the city of Boston and the victim is too young to be gunned down in the middle of the daytime and I think the community is getting sick and tired of what is happening in this city with the shootings,” said Walsh.
Three schools were placed in “safe mode,” including the high school, the Dearborn STEM Academy and Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School.
Witnesses said a fire alarm went off at the high school nearby and then the shooting happened.
“This is like this third friend that has already got shot by violence, it’s crazy, I’m scared for my brothers to be up here,” a student said.
“I pastor at a church in this neighborhood, so mourning, grief, is what goes through my heart,” Reverend Mark Scott said.
Commissioner Evans appealed to the public for help.
“Shame on anybody who doesn’t step up to the plate and help us solve this,” he said.
No arrests have been made. This is the 13th homicide of 2016 in Boston.