Police probe death of man found at Mattapan cemetery
 Boston police believe the unidentified victim, a man in his 20s, was killed elsewhere, and then dumped at Mount Hope Cemetery. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF) |
A passerby found a naked man in his 20s dead inside Mount Hope Cemetery early yesterday morning, apparently the victim of a gunshot wound, police said.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said that because little evidence was found at the scene, police believe the unidentified man was killed elsewhere.
Police said little about the slaying, which, if it is ruled a homicide, would be the fourth in the city this year. The killing follows a similar unsolved slaying late last month, when a 21-year-old Roxbury man was found dumped in a Dorchester yard, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
Community leaders yesterday expressed shock at the slain man's being found in the cemetery, a neighborhood landmark.
"It's disturbing to everyone who lives around here," said Henry Workman, finance director at Mattapan Community Health Center. "This isn't something that happens routinely. It saddens us that this would happen in our community."
Mabel Graham , a community activist who lives near the cemetery, said that while the death is a reminder that the community needs better lighting, that would probably not stop the killing.
"There's nothing we can do about it," she said. "It's the times that we're living in."
SUZANNE SMALLEY
