BOSTON (WHDH) - Police are searching for the shooter responsible for a double shooting in Roxbury during the middle of the day Monday, killing a 14-year-old.
Police found one teenager with multiple gunshot wounds near Washington Street just before 12:30 p.m. They soon found another victim with gunshot wounds inside a nearby apartment on Cobden Street. The 14-year-old was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The surviving victim was also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A number of witnesses on the scene said they heard gunfire and saw people running.
“And I heard bam! And then I heard pow pow pow pow pow!,” one witness said. “I was way behind that one kid that they took, I was right behind him. He was walking up this way, then he was walking up there, probably had a problem with somebody and this is what happened after that.”
Officials are considering this an isolated incident.
“We have, again, too many guns on our streets,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. “This is another shooting in broad daylight, on a holiday.”
Witnesses said they were worried about the safety of their own youth in a neighborhood they describe as quiet.
“I got my babies, it scares me to death,” Catherine Betters, another witness, said. “All my babies I don’t let them go anywhere, ever. School and home, school and home don’t go nowhere else.”
“Scary, it’s a lot, it’s triggering,” said Maudrie Depradine, who lives in the area.
Hayden said he was concerned about the community and the gravity of gun violence.
“The violent death of a 14-year-old is a tragedy beyond expression, an epic loss for family and friends and a grievous blow to our city,” Hayden said. “Investigators will do everything they can to determine the facts of this horrible event. But this much we know: a child is dead because of gunfire on our streets.”
People who live in the area said their thoughts are with the victim’s family.
“Another family has to go through losing a loved one and dealing with the grief,” said Depradine. “Fourteen years old is very young. There are way too many guns on the streets of Boston, it’s sad. It messed up the whole neighborhood today, it’s terrible.”
Police are asking anyone with information on the double shooting to come forward.
“We’re looking for the help of this community, we’re looking to support this community, we’ll continue to do everything we can in this investigation,” Hayden said.
Boston Public Schools confirmed that the teen killed was one of their students.
“We are deeply saddened about the loss of one of our students, who was a victim of a senseless act of gun violence over the weekend,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement. “Counselors and support staff are on the ground providing support to students and staff as we grieve as a community… We must collectively come together as a community to end gun violence so that no parent, teacher, classmate, or anyone experiences the preventable loss of our youth.”
She urged caretakers of children struggling to call the BPS Helpline at 617-635-8873 or via email at helpline@bostonpublicschools.org.
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