Teenage mourner becomes a victim

A 17-year-old was shot yesterday in Dorchester shortly after he left the funeral of another teenager gunned down last week, police sources and a neighbor said.

The teenager, whose name police did not release, was in critical condition late yesterday afternoon at Boston Medical Center, police said.

Shells and other evidence littered Harvard Street, where police found the victim suffering from a chest wound at about noon, said Thomas Lee, deputy superintendent in charge of the homicide division of the Boston Police Department.

"I saw him collapse right in front of the liquor store," said a 26-year-old woman at the scene who did not want her name published for fear of retribution.

She said she ran over to the victim and saw blood flowing from his mouth. Before police arrived, she said he told her: "I'm shot. I'm hit. I'm getting cold."

As police officers combed the scene and blocked much of the area with cruisers and yellow tape, she said: "It's a shame. That boy was too young. He just came from a funeral."

Police had not arrested anyone by last night, but two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said the shooter may have also come from the funeral of Charles Bunch Jr., 18, a senior at Jeremiah Burke High School in Dorchester, who was shot to death in Mattapan on Oct. 14.

Police said Bunch, whose killer remains at large, was probably the victim of gang violence.

The sources described the suspect as a male between 5-foot-3-inches and 5-foot-6-inches tall, wearing a black button-down dress shirt, black dress pants, black shoes, and a memorial pin with Bunch's picture.

Police said the suspect fled on foot, down Bicknell Street toward Bradshaw Street.

The Rev. William E. Dickerson, pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester, attended Bunch's funeral at a Masonic Lodge on Talbot Street with other clergy and some 200 people from the neighborhood, but said he did not know the victim.

Dickerson said he heard that the shooting was part of a larger war between local gangs.

"It's sad how crazy it's gotten out there, with it so acceptable that kids have guns," Dickerson said.

"We need an all-out war on illicit guns," he said. "It's going to take a lot more effort on the part of law enforcement."

Jerome Heath, who has lived on Harvard Street since 1995, said violence is consuming the neighborhood.

"This is a dangerous place," he said. "I'm ready to get out of here."

By yesterday, the city had recorded 58 homicides, one fewer than at the same time last year. The city had 240 nonfatal shootings by Sunday, 35 fewer than last year at the same time.

Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call either the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS (8477) or to text the word tip to CRIME (27463).

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.