1 Dead In Triple Shooting In Mattapan
BOSTON (CBS) - Three men have been shot, one of them fatally, in a brazen daytime shooting in Mattapan, police said.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting around 9:38 a.m. Tuesday on Deering Road, about a block from the Area B3 Boston police station.
"It's crazy, because like I said, (it's) broad daylight," said Ricardo Tillman, a neighborhood resident.
Police believe all three victims, who were in their late 20s, were shot while in a car, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said during a press conference Tuesday morning at the crime scene. One has died.
Police are trying to determine whether the shooting was gang-related.
On scene here in Mattapan where police say three have been shot. Waiting for press conference to begin #wbz pic.twitter.com/JrjtkgsWTH
— Paul Burton (@PaulWBZ) August 14, 2018
Witnesses described hearing at least 10 "rapid fire" gunshots and then screaming outside.
One woman described how she rushed to help the shooting victims.
"I got fresh towels and applied tourniquets and made them raise, keep them calm, talked to them," she said.
When officers arrived, they found three male victims in their late 20s wounded from gunfire, Gross said.
"At this time, it doesn't appear to be random," said Gross.
The police commissioner appealed to the public for help with the shooting investigation.
"Meet us halfway, help us out in these investigations... It does work when people come forward and help us out," he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Boston Police at 617-343-4470.
"It's an active investigation. We're looking for video. We're looking for witnesses," Gross said.
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Boston has seen 34 homicides so far this year, up from 33 last year, Gross said.
"One homicide and one shooting is too many," he said.
Gross also called for tougher penalties for people who have been arrested on multiple firearms charges, and then are released back into the community.
"If they can't be rehabilitated on this side, they need to be locked up. And we are sick and tired of when we make arrests, several of the individuals, it's their third and fourth time with a firearm offense," Gross said.
"I'm going to tell you right here and now, we in the community are working hard," he said. "Stay away orders, and ankle bracelets do not work. We need to send a message that it is not acceptable in our communities in Boston, that when we arrest individuals, it's their third-, fourth- and fifth time with a gun. Unacceptable."
"If everybody in the village is being accountable, everybody in the judicial system needs to be held accountable," Gross said. "At another level, it makes no sense again, to give someone a stay away order, an electronic bracelet so that they can come out here and commit these senseless acts of violence. Not acceptable on my watch."
Gross said so far this year, police have worked to get over 400 illegal guns off city streets.
Neighborhood residents decried the violence.
"In a neighborhood known for kids, you can come up here any given time, and you're seeing multiple kids riding bikes, playing football, you know, just running up and down the neighborhood. You think that's going to happen now?"
"I thought we were moving forward as a community," said Ronnie Washington. "But to hear this, I'm kind of heartbroken."