Man Killed In South End Shooting
BOSTON (CBS) -- Police are asking for witnesses to come forward after a man was fatally shot in the South End Sunday morning.
The victim, identified only as a man in his 30s, was found at Southampton and Topeka Streets.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told WBZ-TV that emergency responders may not have realized at first that he had been shot.
"They didn't realize it, and I think when they were taking him, they realized he had a wound to the shoulder," Evans said. "Unfortunately, as close as the hospital was, right down the street, we weren't able to save him."
Evans adds that there is a definite increase in violence.
Police said the man may attempted to keep going after being shot, before collapsing.
He was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
"I think this is our 38th homicide this year," Evans said. "We're up five or six, but we're working hard. We've been able to solve quite a few of these and hopefully we can solve this one."
He says the increase in violence is "troubling."
"There are a lot of transients, homeless. But obviously, we're working real hard," Evans said.
Police are also investigating two other shootings that took place overnight Saturday to Sunday. One was on Fox Street and another near Quincy Street where the victim walked away with non life-threatening injuries.
Dorchester resident Dee Dee Leaper is alarmed by the increase in violence.
"It's not safe. It's not safe at all," she said. "Wow, I just moved here to move away from this. Now it's like, I want to move again."
Mayor Marty Walsh reiterated what he and Evans have been saying for some time now--that there are just too many guns on the city's streets.
"We have illegal guns on the street that we can't register back to anyone," Walsh said. "People are shooting them off, it's almost impossible to trace them back unless you have 100 percent cooperation from the community."
Anyone with information about the shooting is being asked to contact Boston Police.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karyn Regal reports
