17-year-old is shot, killed at cookout in Hyde Park

Police probing whether death is gang-related

Boston police investigated the shooting on Edwardson Street in Hyde Park last night. Some neighbors said they didn't know whether the pops were fireworks or gunshots. (EVAN RICHMAN/GLOBE STAFF)

A July Fourth cookout in Hyde Park ended in the shooting death of a 17-year-old male last night, police said. It was the second killing of the day in Boston, bringing the total for the city this year to 32, matching the number at this time last year.

Around 8 p.m. yesterday, police responded to a 911 call and found the teenager on the street in front of a house on Edwardson Street with a bullet wound to his head, said Superintendent Daniel F. Linskey. He was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police blocked off both Edwardson Street and Wood Avenue last night and combed the area for a weapon with the help of flashlights and dogs.

Police did not identify the victim last night because his family had not yet been notified.

Linskey said they were investigating whether the shooting at the cookout was gang-related.

At the scene, teenagers from another cookout, on Wood Avenue, gathered outside, unable to get to their cars behind the police tape.

Several people who came out of other homes said they had been unable to tell whether the sounds they had heard were fireworks or gunshots.

A neighbor, who asked that her name not be used, was celebrating both her 61st birthday and Independence Day at a party on Frazer Street, near the crime scene. She said she heard gunshots, despite the nonstop pops of fireworks.

"The problem is, the firecrackers are everywhere. You don't know whether it's guns or firecrackers sometimes," she said. "Here, though, I could tell the difference."