Jamaica Plain Shooting Victim Was Weeks From College Graduation
BOSTON (CBS) - Police have identified two men who were killed Friday night in a Jamaica Plain double shooting, one who died just weeks before his college graduation.
Police were called to the Heath Street housing development on Centre Street around 10 p.m. on Friday for a shooting. Two victims, 23-year-old Christopher Joyce, and 58-year-old Clayborn Blair, were pronounced dead later that night.
Joyce's family says he was weeks away from graduating Salem State University.
"It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our student, Christopher Joyce," a university spokesman said. "Our thoughts are with his family and with the students who are suffering from a loss of a friend and classmate. We mourn the loss of Chris together, as a community. Support services are available for our students, faculty, and staff, and we ask that our campus have privacy at this time to grieve this tragic."
Joyce would have been the first to graduate college in their family.
"We are hurt. we are broken," said his mother Raeshaunna Armstrong, who told WBZ-TV that Joyce was visiting family and friends when gunshots rang out.
"He was there for no more than 15 minutes. Who's to say that's too long to go to your childhood place?" said Armstrong.
The family says Chris was looking forward to graduating and beginning his career as an accountant.
"He was intelligent, lovable. Everything about Chris was a spark of life. Just a great individual," Armstrong said.
"He was a good member of the community, a good student, and as a friend I was really proud of him," friend Adrian Mata added.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner Bill Evans visited Joyce's family on Sunday afternoon to offer their support and condolences.
"We as a family we took a big loss here. And it's hurting. Chris didn't deserve this. Help us bring justice please. Help Boston Police," his aunt Natasha Steele said.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to contact Boston Police.
"He always took a moment to realize how much he had in life and how much people meant to him in life," said Joyce's friend Taris Wilson.