Gunfire wounds three young teens in Dorchester

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff, and Jonnelle Marte, Globe Correspondent

Three teenage boys were shot early this morning in Dorchester, police said.

The victims -- ages 13, 15, and 16 -- were on a third-story balcony on Homes Avenue when they were shot, said Officer Eddy Chrispin, a police spokesman. They were taken to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Chrispin said.

Two of the teens were shot in the leg, and the third was shot in the hand. Police did not identify the victims by name.

The shooting, which occurred at about 12:30 a.m., startled neighbors. One man was just returning home from work and was worried about his wife and 5-year-old child, who live on the second floor. He was not allowed to pass a police boundary, and said his wife told him officers knocked on their door looking for suspects.

"My wife is probably petrified, scared to death," said the man, who would not give his name. "I'm just worried about my baby, he's scared."

Police detectives and gang unit officers were combing the area during the night looking for evidence. Police were also searching for a black SUV seen fleeing the shooting scene. No arrests have been made.

Yesterday afternoon, police responded to a call reporting gunshots at 107 Devon St., located less than a mile from the Homes Avenue shooting.

In that incident, at about 4:40 p.m., a 25-year-old man suffered multiple bullet wounds. He was transported to Boston Medical Center for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, said police spokesman David Estrada.

Estrada said yesterday evening that police were trying to establish a motive in that shooting.

Early today, police released few details on the Homes Avenue shooting.

The gunfire follows a bloody week in Boston, in which seven people were shot, two of them fatally, in four separate attacks over the Fourth of July weekend.

There have been 33 killings in the city so far this year.

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