Shock, disbelief follow fatal shooting of Dorchester woman

The family of Alexandra "Xanda" Gomes, the 19-year-old woman who was killed last Sunday in an early morning shooting in Dorchester, was in mourning yesterday, a day after her funeral and the arrest of her alleged killer.

Boston police arrested Daniel Harris, 23, of Boston, on Friday on charges of murder, assault, and battery with a dangerous weapon, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, said Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley in a joint statement Friday. Harris will be arraigned tomorrow in Dorchester District Court.

Gomes had a 17-month-old daughter, named Niylah, and had wanted to become a nurse. She was pronounced dead the morning of the shooting at Boston Medical Center.

Eddy Chrispin, a police department spokesman, declined to comment on a motive in the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation.

Gomes and Harris were among five people shot about 2:30 a.m. on Elder Street, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Conley. Police who arrived at the scene found no victims.

Gomes, her 18-year-old sister, Aisha Gomes, and a 30-year-old male drove to Boston Medical Center for treatment of gunshot wounds while Harris and a 20-year-old man brought themselves to Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Chrispin declined to comment on who shot Harris and the other three.

A 19-year-old man who said he was a cousin of Gomes, stood yesterday at a shrine set up in Gomes's memory on Elder Street and said the family was still in shock.

He asked that the Globe not identify him because he feared retaliation.

"Her mom's in pain, her dad's in pain, her sister's in pain, her brothers [are] in pain," he said.

"They're just all in disbelief."

At the Gomes's house on Glendale Street in Dorchester yesterday, a relative on the porch gestured to an open front door where wailing could be heard from inside.

He told a reporter no one would be able to comment.

Conley said police are still investigating the shooting and encouraged anyone with information to contact police by calling CrimeStoppers at 1-800-494-TIPS or by sending an anonymous text message with the word "TIP" to CRIME (27463).

"This arrest brings us one step closer to justice for a young mother taken from those who loved and needed her most, but it's not the end of our efforts," he said in a statement released Friday.

Matt Collette can be reached at mpcollette@globe.com.