Thursday, 4:30 PM
Officials 'saddened and angry' at death of 8-year-old shooting victim
Liquarry Jefferson
By Donovan Slack and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Mayor Thomas M. Menino cut short a trip to Los Angeles after learning overnight of the shooting death of 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson, the city's youngest homicide victim since 2002.
Menino, who had been scheduled to return to Boston Tuesday after a meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, is boarding a flight home today. Jefferson was shot in the abdomen last night about 11:30.
"The devastating news that his young life has been cut short by a senseless crime and that it took place within his own home saddens me," Menino said in a statement this morning. "We will continue to investigate this incident and ask that anyone with information come forward to help us."
Jefferson is the youngest person to be fatally shot in the city since January 2002, when gunfire killed 3-year-old Malik Andrade-Percival. In May 2000, a pregnant woman was shot in a Sumner Street apartment in Dorchester. Police treated the death of her eight-month-old fetus as a homicide. In 1994, Jermaine Goffigan, a 9-year-old Roxbury boy, was shot to death after trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Governor Deval Patrick said today that he has been in touch with the mayor’s office and local clergy. "My heart goes out to the family and the community," Patrick said. "Obviously not just as governor, but as a parent my heart aches for that family."
City Council President Maureen Feeney said she is confident the mayor and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis will "work with the community to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"This news is tragic beyond words," Feeney said in a statement this morning. "My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers are with this child and his family. The entire city today is saddened and angry that an innocent child was so tragically tangled in violence."
At the Greater Love Tabernacle on Nightingale Street, more than a dozen ministers gathered to condemn the killing and urge residents to help police. "We are outraged that another senseless killing has ended the life of a young boy," said the Rev. William E. Dickerson II. Ministers plan to meet with Jefferson's family later today.
Lisa Wangsness of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
