Shooting victim discovered in Roslindale

A man was found shot to death outside a public housing complex in Roslindale early yesterday, police and residents said.

Police would identify the victim only as an Hispanic male, and did not provide any information on a possible suspect.

Residents of the Archdale Road apartment complex who saw the man's body said yesterday that he appeared to have been shot at least three times in the back. None of the neighbors said they recognized the victim.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, where police responded about 2:30 a.m., after receiving a report of a body, authorities said. His body lay across a cement pathway near an apartment building and a neighborhood basketball court, residents said.

Marie Forbes , 60, who raised three children and two grandsons in the red-brick building, said that the neighborhood has a history of gang-related violence.

In her 23 years in her first-floor apartment, Forbes said there have been several stabbings, shootings, and drug-related crimes in the community.

Several years ago, her son chased a football into the bushes and found a body, she said.

"People have lost all respect for each other," she said while walking her two dogs down the pathway where the man's body was found yesterday. "I don't feel comfortable living here anymore."

Charlos Marten , 25, who has lived in an apartment near the scene his entire life and now takes care of his parents there, said that police surrounded the area between Washington Street and Brookway Road and questioned neighbors.

Marten said he considers the neighborhood safe. "It's very much friendly," Marten said outside the apartment building. "If you keep to yourself, you live."

The death, if ruled a homicide, would bring the city's toll for the year to 32, on par with last year's total at this time of year, police said.

Hernandez can be reached at jhernandez@globe.com.