Gunshots wound one, shatter park's calm

Playground in city closed

Members of the Boston police K9 unit searched for evidence at the playground yesterday. (Bill brett for the boston globe)

Shots rang out at Mattapan's Ryan Playground yesterday afternoon, injuring one person and shutting down a park that had earlier been filled with families, police and a neighbor said.

The victim, whose identity was not released, drove a mile and a half from the site of the shooting to Caritas Carney Hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, said Officer James Kenneally, a Boston police spokesman.

At the hospital, police collected evidence from a late-model red Mercedes Benz, which had been parked at an angle in a lot in front of the emergency room.

The River Street park, less than a mile east of Mattapan Square, was silent, with police cruisers and crime scene tape blocking its arched entrance. But 33-year-old Michael Tynes, who lives across the street from the park, said the scene had been much different yesterday morning.

"There were quite a few people out there," including families with children, he said. It was not clear how much activity was in the park just before the shooting was reported about 1:10 p.m.

Tynes said he was inside watching a movie when he heard three gunshots. "I thought it was the movie," Tynes said. "And then I heard tires squealing."