Family waiting, hoping for shooting victim, 4

Stable after surgery; cousin expected home

Shawne Johnson sat in his cluttered living room yesterday, surrounded by duffel bags stuffed with his two nephews' clothes.

Farris Glover, 4, and Eric Parson, 17, had planned to leave town Monday night to visit family, but they never made it. Both were wounded when a gunman opened fire as they sat on the back porch of their Roxbury home.

"I left to get them money for their trip," said Johnson, 37, uncle to the two boys, wiping his eyes after a sleepless night. "I was gone no more than two minutes, and then this happens."

The pair were among six people injured in three separate shootings Monday. Farris underwent extensive surgery overnight at Boston Medical Center, Johnson said, and remained in stable condition yesterday. Parson, also taken to Boston Medical Center, was expected home yesterday, Johnson said.

"Everybody is dealing with it right now," Johnson said. "We're just waiting and hoping the little one pulls through."

The burst of violence prompted Boston police to urge anyone with information to come forward.

"Firearm violence is unacceptable in our city," Commissioner Edward F. Davis said in a statement. "When the victim is a small child, the cowardly behavior of the person responsible is all the more alarming."

An investigation was ongoing into the Bragdon Street shooting yesterday, police said. A 17-year-old in police custody Monday night was released yesterday because no positive identification was made, the statement said.

Farris Glover had spent the evening playing outside and was excited about leaving with his grandmother, Yvonne Johnson, that night to visit family in North Carolina, Shawne Johnson said. Parson, who had been in Boston for about a month, also planned to leave that night to return to his ailing mother in Georgia.

Yvonne Johnson said Monday night that she was packing for the trip when she heard a "pow, pow." "We thought it was firecrackers," she said. Johnson then heard Parson scream that his cousin, nicknamed Little Farris, had been hit, she said. Police said they believe Parson was the target.

Only a few traces of the shootings remained at the family's home yesterday. Shards of glass covered the sidewalk, and the windows of a car parked alongside the house were smashed. A few toys lay scattered by the front door.

Every morning, Farris would get dressed and run outside to play with his friends in the neighborhood, Shawne Johnson said. "He was so happy-go-lucky," he said. "There were always other kids around."

Shawne Johnson described Parson as an avid fisherman - "He'd go anywhere you could throw a pole at" - and said he and his nephew often played video games in the living room.

"We were playing just before he went outside with his cousin," he said.

Those shootings were only the beginning of the violent night. Soon after, a man in his 20s was shot multiple times on Hamilton Street in Dorchester, police said. About two hours later, three men were shot on Harvard Street in Dorchester. All the victims were expected to survive, police said.

Christopher Baxter can be reached at cbaxter@globe.com.