Family says slain teen was shot 13 times

(Family photo)

Carlos Sierra was gunned down on a Dorchester street last night.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A 16-year-old boy shot to death in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood last night was identified by his family today as Carlos Sierra.

In an interview in their apartment, Sierra's relatives said the teen was an eighth-grader at the James M. Curley Elementary School in Jamaica Plain. They said doctors had told them that the teenager was shot 13 times.

Sierra was shot on Strathcona Road shortly after 10:30 p.m. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Sierra's older sister, Jacqueline Gonzalez, said the teenager had no enemies that she knew of. "He never had any problems with anybody,'' said the 19-year-old as her mother, Marisol Rodriguez, wept nearby. "He would only go to school and come home -- and go to school.''

Gonzalez said her brother left the family apartment Tuesday night with her 23-year-old boyfriend to buy a pack of cigarettes. As the two returned to the apartment building, a grey sedan drove by and someone in the car opened fire.

Gonzalez said her brother was shorter than her boyfriend and it was clear to the family that the shooter deliberately targeted Sierra. "The aim was to him, nobody else,'' she said, adding she did not know why someone apparently decided kill her brother.

Boston police said no arrests have been made.

Sierra is the fourth murder victim of the year in Boston. Joseph Clarke, 23, was fatally shot on a Dorchester street on Jan. 6. Darrion Carrington, 18, was shot at a Chinese restaurant in Dorchester on Jan. 7. Tyrone Hicks, 20, was shot on a Dorchester street on Sunday.

John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.

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