As boy, 4, recovers, police urge witnesses to step forward

By Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent

Boston Police urged witnesses to come forward this afternoon as detectives continued to investigate three separate shootings Monday night that injured six people, including a 4-year-old boy.

All six victims are expected to survive, including 4-year-old Ferris Glover, who was in stable condition after surgery to repair the damage from the bullet that tore through his abdomen. He was shot while sitting on his back porch with his 17-year-old cousin, Eric Parson, who was struck by a bullet in the arm.

"When the victim is a small child, the cowardly behavior of the person responsible is all the more alarming," Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said in a statement. "The Boston Police Department is dedicated to holding the perpetrators accountable for their outrageous acts."

Based on a witness description, a 17-year-old was taken into custody by police Monday night. The teenager had not been positively identified and was later released without being charged.

Police have not reported making arrests in the other shootings, both of which occurred in Dorchester. At 9:28 p.m. on Harvard Street, three men were shot, suffering what police described as non-life-threatening injuries. Earlier in the evening on Hamilton Street, a person was shot several times and taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

Ferris's uncle Shawne Johnson sat in the family's cluttered living room in Roxbury today and glanced at packed duffle bags and rolling luggage brimming with clothes.

“They were both about to leave to see family,” said Shawne Johnson, 37, wiping his eyes after a sleepless night. “I left to get them money for their trip. I was gone no more than two minutes and then this happens.”

Ferris spent the evening playing outside and was excited about leaving with his grandmother that night to visit family in North Carolina. Parson had been in Boston for a month and also planned to leave last night to return to his ailing mother in Georgia.

Neither boy made it out of Boston. At about 7:40 p.m., as the pair was sitting together on their back porch, an unknown gunman shot Parson in the arm and Glover in the side of his abdomen.

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

Glover underwent extensive surgery overnight. Parson was expected to return home today.

“I have no idea how this happened,” Shawne Johnson said. “I'd give it a couple days. Word usually spreads through the streets quick.”

Glover’s grandmother, Yvonne Johnson, said Monday night she was packing for the trip when she heard a “pow, pow.” “We thought it was firecrackers,” she said. She then heard Parson scream that his cousin, nicknamed Little Farris, had been hit.

Only a few traces of the shootings remained at the family’s Bragdon Street home this morning. Shards of glass covered the sidewalk. Windows were smashed in a white Chevrolet Cavalier parked alongside the house. A few toys – including a tricycle and deflated kid’s pool – lay scattered by the front door.

Ferris "was really excited to go on the trip,” Shawne Johnson said. “He was really excited to see his cousins.”

Every morning, Ferris 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.

Since Jan. 1, at least 39 people in Boston ages 17 and younger have been shot, according to police records.

On June 30, a 7-year-old boy was struck by a stray bullet when he was playing kickball with friends outside his home near Parker Street in Roxbury. He recovered from his injuries. On June 19, a 5-month-old girl was shot while in the arms of her father, who was also shot, in their Fairlawn Avenue home in Mattapan.

On Aug. 5, four teenagers ages 15 and 16 were shot as they sat on the porch of their Wardman Road home, a few blocks from Bragdon Street.

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