Police look for witnesses to fatal bus stabbing

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

Authorities asked for the public's help today as state and transit police continue investigating the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old youth on an MBTA bus on New Year's Eve.

Devonte Dalvin-Franklin of Roxbury was stabbed several times aboard a Route 28 bus near the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Harvard Street at about 9:30 p.m. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The Suffolk District Attorney's office issued a statement this morning urging "anyone with knowledge of the incident -- even peripheral information that may not seem important -- to contact Transit Police at 617-222-1212 or State Police at 617-727-8817."

Jake Wark, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said that the stabbing followed an altercation on the bus, but it was unclear whom Dalvin-Franklin was fighting or why. Several people were on the bus when the stabbing occurred, and State Police and the MBTA Transit Police have interviewed several witnesses. It was the first homicide on the MBTA since an 18-year-old was shot to death while riding a bus in March 2007.

"The violent death of any young person is senseless and tragic but consider the horrible irony of Devonte's death on New Year's Eve," said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. "Instead of celebrating the arrival of a new year, his loved ones are mourning."

Dalvin-Franklin's mother, reached by phone last night, said, "I haven't slept" and declined to comment further. Other family members gathering to mourn Dalvin-Franklin also declined to comment.

Two law enforcement sources, however, said Dalvin-Franklin was known to police.

MBTA officials said that such acts of extreme violence are rare and they are always working to improve safety. Uniformed patrols take place regularly in the area.

"There hasn't been a homicide on the MBTA in 21 months," said MBTA Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan. "We now have 300 buses with cameras. . .unfortunately this was not one of them, but we are installing more cameras on buses."

MBTA riders waiting for the Route 28 bus yesterday said violence sometimes broke out on buses, but it was rarely random. Several people said groups of teens who know one another often tend to fight the most.

"I'm not scared. Sometimes you see stuff, but they don't bother other people," said Martha Torres, 19, of Dorchester as she was waiting for a bus on Blue Hill Avenue near Harvard Street.

"It's too bad," said James Senior Cajuste of Dorchester who was waiting for the Route 28 bus. "I don't usually ride the bus, but I am not nervous."

Elsewhere in the city, a man was shot once in the left leg in front of the Revolution Rock Bar & Lounge in the Financial District about 1:30 a.m. yesterday. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. According to police, the victim told them he bumped into a man at the club who said if the victim did so again he would be shot. Police yesterday were looking for a Hispanic male, about 5 feet 8 inches, with short spiky hair who got into a black sport utility vehicle.

George Regan, a spokesman for the Revolution said the club was cooperating with police and gave them tapes of surveillance cameras from the club.

Also on New Year's Eve, police went to Mount Pleasant Terrace in Roxbury, at about 8:22 p.m., where they found a man shot in the lower back and right hip with non-life-threatening injuries. He was taken to Boston Medical Center and told police he was robbed of $300, a cellphone, and lottery tickets by two men wearing black masks, one of whom had a silver handgun.

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