Violent 24 hours leave 2 dead
Three injured as separate attacks rock Dorchester and Roslindale; The proximity of the violence forces lockdowns at six elementary schools
A teenage male and a young man were killed, and three people were injured during three separate shootings in 24 hours, a spasm of violence that forced the lock-down of half a dozen schools, terrified parents, and unsettled residents throughout the city.
The bloodshed began late Tuesday, when Carlos Sierra, a 16-year-old eighth-grader, was fatally shot near his home in Dorchester as he returned from buying cigarettes with his older sister's boyfriend.
It continued with a shooting in Dorchester yesterday afternoon that left the victim in critical condition and ended about 15 minutes later in Roslindale, when three men being driven from the funeral of a recent homicide victim were attacked by unidentified gunmen, according to multiple law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. The car was riddled with bullets as it drove along a residential street lined with well-kept single-family houses. One of the men did not survive.
The eruption began just hours after Mayor Thomas M. Menino gave his State of the City address, during which he hailed police efforts to combat violent crime across Boston. And it occurred just two weeks after end-of-year statistics showed a marked decline in the city's homicide rate and the number of shootings. So far this year, there have been four slayings in the city, two ahead of last year's pace, police said.
The worst of yesterday's violence occured in Roslindale. The victims, whose ages range from 17 to 23, were targeted while being driven in a gray sedan from the funeral of Darrion Carrington, who was fatally shot Jan. 7 as he waited for takeout in a Dorchester restaurant.
About 1:30 p.m., the car was pulling up to the intersection of Poplar Street and Metropolitan Avenue, in a hilly neighborhood of longtime residents, when someone began firing into the car, police said.
The driver, who was not harmed, sped off and stopped a few blocks away near Beech and Washington streets, a few feet from Phineas Bates Elementary School. He flagged down a firetruck and asked for help, police said. Firefighters administered first aid to the three wounded men until police arrived. One of the men, whose age and name were not released, was later pronounced dead at a hospital. One man, who was shot in the chest, was in critical condition, and the third was shot in the leg, an injury that was not life-threatening, police said.
A city official with knowledge of the investigation said the driver was not cooperating with investigators.
Police said the shooting happened shortly after a man was shot in the stomach on Topliff Street, near Geneva Avenue, in Dorchester, where school officials ordered the lock-down of four schools.
In Roslindale, Phineas Bates and George H. Conley Elementary School were locked down for at least an hour, said Boston police Superintendent Bruce A. Holloway.
"All the children are safe," he said during a press conference outside Phineas Bates, where several schoolchildren waiting outside for their parents stared wide-eyed at the crime scene.
Charlene Daniel, 34, whose 8-year-old is a pupil at Phineas, said she panicked when she heard the news of the shooting. She rushed to the school to pick up her daughter.
"As soon as I knew she was safe, I calmed down a lot," Daniel said, clutching her daughter's hand. "You hear the news, and your heart races because you have a child in there."
Police are investigating whether the shooting in Roslindale is gang-related. They are also investigating any possible connection to the death of Carrington and the shooting on Topliff Street.
"It's standard procedure for homicide investigators to examine the possibility of a connection between shootings that occur in close time and proximity," said Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department.
Driscoll said Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis has ordered more patrols in Dorchester and Roslindale. Officers will hand out pamphlets about the department's anonymous tip line. Police urged anyone who was riding the MBTA bus that passed Metropolitan and Poplar at the time of the shooting to call.
The shootings unsettled residents in the Poplar Street area, where snow clung to trees, creating a crystalline landscape that contrasted sharply with the yellow police tape and patrol cars.
"I'm kind of in shock," said Cathy Baker-Eclipse, 33, as she stood outside, holding her 7-month-old daughter and watching police search for ballistics evidence. She said she was in her house doing her taxes when she heard what she thought was a car backfire.
A few minutes later, a detective knocked on her door and told her about the shooting.
"I didn't even think about it," she said. "I've never heard [shooting] before."
The Beech Street area has experienced gun violence in the past two years, including a nonfatal shooting in November.
Police had reported no arrests in any of the shootings last night.
Sierra, the 16-year-old victim of Tuesday's attack, went to James M. Curley Elementary School in Jamaica Plain. He was walking down Strathcona Road at 10:30 p.m. when a gray sedan pulled up and someone inside started firing, his relatives said in an interview at their residence yesterday.
Sierra was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where doctors told the family he was shot 13 times.
"He never had any problems with anybody," said Jacqueline Gonzalez, Sierra's 19-year-old sister, as his mother, Marisol Rodriguez, wept nearby.
"He would only go to school and come home," his sister said.
The identity of the Topliff Street victim was not released yesterday, but police said they believe he is 27 years old.
Carmen Rivera of Dorchester rushed to Topliff Street yesterday afternoon after a call from her mother, who lives near the crime scene. "It's scary around here," Rivera said. "She can't have her grandkids come around here."
Tracy Jan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 