Man shot dead, woman wounded in hair salon

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

A man in his 20s was fatally shot in the head Thursday night inside a Dorchester hair salon and woman in her 70s was shot on the arm, police said.

Boston Police Captain John Danilecki said at the scene that a lone gunman opened fire inside the Universal hair salon at about 7:05 p.m.

He said the male victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was getting a hair cut at the time of the attack.

The woman was taken to Boston Medical Center and is expected to survive. Danilecki said police do not believe she was targeted.

She was also getting her hair done at the time, Danilecki said.

Neither of the victims were immediately identified Thursday night.

Thursday’s shooting was the 37th homicide in the city of Boston this year, according to information provided by Boston police and the Suffolk district attorney’s office. In 2011, there was a total of 63 homicides in the city.

A crowd gathered by the crime scene tape near the scene of the shooting Thursday night while police investigated in and around the salon, which is next to a supermarket and also near several triple deckers.

Kevin Brown, 43, a neighborhood resident, said he knew the man who was killed.

Brown said he spoke to him only in passing, and thought he worked in the salon.

“I didn’t see him having problems with anybody,” Brown said. “It’s crazy.”

One woman, who would only give her first name, Lissi, said she came to the street to pick up her kids and that the news of the shootings was unsettling.

“It’s scary,” said Lissi, 31, of Dorchester.