2 shot as cycle of gang retaliation grips city
16-year-old killed; woman injured
Tensions between rival gangs erupting over the past few days took a deadly toll: A 16-year-old male was killed and a 19-year-old woman was injured in separate shootings, police said.
The shootings were part of a cycle of retaliatory gang violence that has gripped parts of the city since Monday night, when a 6-month old girl was hit with a bullet as her father cradled her in his arms in their living room. Police are investigating the possibility that the shooter went after the family because of an escalating feud between two Jamaica Plain gangs that had claimed the lives of two young men, one of them a relative.
In addition, a 21-year-old unidentified male was shot and killed last night on Cummins Highway in Mattapan, only blocks from Fairlawn Avenue, where the infant, Alianna Peguero, and her father were shot Monday. Officer Eddy Chrispin, police spokesman, could not say last night whether the shootings are related.
"We always investigate these incidents to determine if there's a link," Crispin said. "Right now . . . can't say there is, can't say there isn't."
In another shooting last night, an unidentified teenager was grazed by a bullet near Norfolk Park in Mattapan and was treated at Children's Hospital Boston.
Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the Police Department's gang unit officers have been deployed to the Roxbury neighborhood where the 16-year-old was shot to death Wednesday night to try to quell any gang feud before it becomes bloodier.
"We know who the actors are, and we're going to be making it clear that any violent behavior will affect their ability to continue to do things the way they have been doing in the past," he said.
Late Wednesday night, Quamaine Williams, who police believe belonged to a Roxbury gang that had traded gunfire with a rival group in the neighborhood, was shot on St. James Street near his home.
Two hours later, a 19-year-old woman standing next to a man police believe belongs to a Dorchester gang was shot on Fayston Street. Police said the woman was probably the intended target. The unidentified woman was taken to Boston Medical Center and is expected to survive, police said.
Last night's victim was pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center after being transported from the Cummins Highway scene at 8:05 p.m., police said.
Across the street from the shooting, William Robert, 41, watched the police investigate. "There's too much shooting around here. It's ridiculous. Every night," he said.
Davis said that despite the burst of violence, shootings in the city are down compared with this time last year. There were 101 nonfatal shootings between Jan. 1 and June 9, 2007, compared with 69 for the same time period this year. The city has had 27 homicides this year, compared with 29 at this time last year.
"Clearly these are tragic situations, and I don't want to downplay the importance of the work that we're doing, but we've had an unprecedented quiet year," he said.
Alianna Peguero remained last night at Boston Medical Center, where her condition was not released. The infant was shot in the abdomen by an unknown assailant who climbed onto a balcony and fired at the girl's father, Alinson Peguero, 48. Peguero's 20-year-old son, Alan, was shot and killed in September; Luis Troncoso, 20, was fatally shot in April. Police have said the two were members of rival Jamaica Plain gangs.
Davis described Williams as "an impact player." Police often define an impact player as someone suspected in a shooting.
Relatives and friends of Williams gathered outside his grandmother's house yesterday to console one another. The teenager, they said, had been terrified someone was after him.
On April 30, Williams was on his way home from William McKinley South End Academy, where he was a freshman, when a group of teenagers jumped him at a bus stop. They stabbed him in the face, and he lost his left eye, his family said.
After the attack, Williams became withdrawn, spending most of his time inside his grandmother's house, said his cousin, Ebony Williams.
"He was trying to get home-tutored," she said. "He was in so much fear for his life that he didn't want to travel to school."
Williams, who wore a glass eye, spent Wednesday evening at a friend's house on St. James Street, his relatives said. Just after 10 p.m., he and a small group of friends walked up the street toward his grandmother's house.
At about 10:25 p.m., a man in an orange hooded shirt and blue jeans walked toward the group, several witness said.
"People in the crowd were asking 'Who is that? Who is that?' " said Hope Buford, 17, Williams's girlfriend, who was next to him at the time. "Then all of a sudden, this guy pulled out a gun and said 'I'll shoot all of you right now.' "
The crowd scattered as at least five shots rang out. Williams, who had been shot three times, crumpled on a neighbor's lawn. The gunman fled down the street as Williams twisted on the ground in pain, Buford said.
"He was fighting to say words," said a family friend who requested his name be withheld. "I told him not to say anything, to hold on. By the time the ambulance got here, it didn't look good."
Yesterday, Williams's blood still stained the lawn. Outside his grandmother's house, Williams's family had erected a makeshift memorial of candles, balloons, and a picture of the teen smiling.
Inside, Williams's grandmother, Lauretha Williams, who family said had raised the teenager, remained in seclusion, too upset to talk. A batch of fried chicken she had made for him Wednesday night sat on the stove, cold and untouched, they said.
Relatives said that Williams asked police to provide protection after he was stabbed in the face but that he did not get any help.
Elaine Driscoll, Boston police spokeswoman, said that was untrue and that Williams was uncooperative when police asked for help apprehending his assailant.
The night of the stabbing, police arrested a 17-year-old from Roxbury whom a witness identified as one of Williams's assailants.
Globe correspondents Jillian Jorgensen and Sarah M. Gantz contributed to this report.
