Man is shot to death at store in Dorchester

A man in his early 20s was shot and killed at a Dorchester convenience store last night, Boston police said.

The shooting happened at the Quick Stop Market at 124 Harvard St. at about 8:30, according to police.

The man, who was not identified, died at Boston Medical Center of multiple gunshot wounds shortly after the violence took place, said police spokesman Eddy Crispin.

It was not clear whether the victim was a customer or employee at the store.

Several people who gathered at the scene in the largely residential area said they heard two or three shots.

No one among those who gathered at the scene, which was cordoned off with yellow police tape, said they knew the victim.

The convenience store is across the street from a boarded-up church and less than a block away from a second convenience store. Police cordoned off a two-block area of Harvard Street between Norwell and Glenway streets last night.

The shooting death marks Boston's first homicide since Aug. 19, when T'Shana Francis, a 20-year-old college student, was shot to death while standing outside her aunt's Mattapan home. That shooting was less than 3 miles away from the site of last night's slaying.

Last night's shooting was the 48th homicide in the city this year. Last year, Boston had seen 50 homicides through Sept. 3, according to city crime statistics released by police.

Police have responded to fewer shootings so far this year than in the same period last year, but a higher percentage of those shootings have been fatal.

There were 280 shootings through Sept. 3 in 2006, of which 36 were fatal. In the same period this year, there had been 227 shootings, of which 36 were fatal. Shootings are included in statistics when a victim is struck by gunfire.

At least four people were killed in the city on Aug. 3 and . 4. They included 30-year-old Danielle Grady and 18-year-old Porsche Hubbard, who were slain in Dorchester; 28-year-old Damian Perry, who was killed in Roxbury; and 52-year-old Walter Nash, who was killed in Mattapan.

John Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.