Roxbury boy mortally wounded in shooting

An 8-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen and killed last night when three men walked up to the front door of his Roxbury home and began shooting, police said.

There was little information available after the shooting occurred about 11:30 p.m. on Seaver Street, near Franklin Park, police said.

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department, did not release the name of the boy. She said he was taken with a life-threatening wound to Boston Medical Center, where he later died.

Police did not know of a motive for the shooting, Driscoll said. No one was arrested last night, and no other injuries were reported.

He is the city's 31st homicide victim this year.

The shooting occurred on the second floor of what public records show is a public housing complex.

Carmen Cotto, a neighbor, said in a telephone interview that she often saw the boy catching the bus to school. "He's a very quiet boy," she said. "It's really sad this happened."

Residents of the four-story apartment building watched from windows last night as police walked in, out, and around the building.

Four years ago, another young child, Kai Leigh Harriott, 3, was paralyzed when she was shot while sitting on a porch outside her family's third-floor apartment in Dorchester.

When the girl took the stand last year, she forgave the man who shot her, Anthony Warren of Hyde Park, who had fired into the air.

In the summer of 2004, 11-year-old Jenry Gonzalez was shot in the chest during a Pop Warner practice in a Roxbury park. He survived.

In October 2006, two girls were injured in a drive-by shooting when bullets penetrated their house in Dorchester.

The victims, 11-year-old Tamara Mair and Lakeyia Mumford, 7, sustained wounds that were not life-threatening. A bullet went through the 11-year-old's body, while another bullet skinned the 7-year-old's face, relatives said.

Globe correspondents Michael Naughton and Sean Greene contributed to this report.