Teenager dies after Roxbury shooting

‘‘It’s repulsive to hear the matter-of-fact method in which this
happened,’’ said police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, who declined to
describe details of the attack. ‘‘A young man on his way to school having
someone just with complete disregard for the safety of anyone viciously
attack this victim in full view of the neighborhood and buses passing by.
It’s just repugnant.’’

Police closed off a long stretch of Dudley Street, from
Hampden Street to Mount Pleasant Avenue, as they investigated the scene and
scoured footage from surveillance cameras in the area.

Officials described the suspect as a black male, approximately 19
years old, 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-1, and thin. He was wearing a black jacket
with a black or dark-green hooded sweatshirt, black sunglasses, and was
carrying a colored umbrella.

Deputy Superintendent Thomas Lee said that it appeared the attack was
not random and the suspect targeted Turner.

The boy’s family gathered at his house in the Orchard Gardens Housing
Development in Roxbury yesterday while his mother spent the day with him
at Boston Medical Center. Mayor Thomas M. Menino visited Turner’s home
this evening. The boy’s father and grandfather are city employees.

Turner was described as a quiet, unassuming boy who loved to play
basketball and could be shy. He had never been in trouble with police, had
no gang affiliations, and usually spent his afternoons at the Vine Street
Community Center, shooting hoops and playing on computers, said David
Hinton, the cluster administrator at Vine Street and Orchard Gardens
community centers. Hinton said he learned of the shooting from one of his
staff members.

‘‘It’s almost as if I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning,’’
he said. ‘‘I wish I’d turned over and never come to work. It’s really
tough. When it’s a kid who is really not into [criminal life], it really
hurts and really hits home.’’

Turner’s uncle, 20-year-old Jamal, described his nephew as a
‘‘typical kid.’’

‘‘He’s a good kid, a good person and enjoyed life just like any other
15-year-old should,’’ he said, standing near the family’s home. He said his
sister, Turner’s 33-year-old mother, Shana, is grief-stricken.

‘‘She would have taken that bullet for him,’’ Jamal Turner said. ‘‘I
would have taken that bullet for him A lot of people would have taken that
bullet for him.’’

Turner, who played basketball for the Boston Neighborhood Basketball
League, was not an ‘‘impact player,’’ Davis said referring to gang members
who are known to be highly dangerous.

Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case, who
requested anonymity, said Turner ‘‘was not on the radar screen.’’

Davis said police are interviewing many people who were at the scene,
but that investigators believe there are more witnesses who have not come
forward yet.

‘‘We really do need the cooperation from the public,’’ he said.

Asked if police are following any leads, Davis declined to comment,
but said, ‘‘We’re happy with the progress of the investigation so far.’’

Roxbury resident Joanne Lewis, who lives above Nunez Market, said she
was in her apartment when she heard gunshots.

‘‘I heard a couple of shots. I didn’t hear no arguing,’’ she said.

At about the same time, one of her daughters was walking out of their
building with Lewis’s 11-year old granddaughter.

They ran upstairs and told Lewis that a boy was outside, bleeding.

When Lewis followed them outside, she saw Turner sprawled on the
street. As Lewis rushed back inside to call 911, she heard the wails of an
approaching ambulance.

Lewis said she had moved from another street in Roxbury, hoping this
neighborhood would be quieter. Despite yesterday’s violence, she said she
does not see the point in moving again.

‘‘Everywhere you go, there is violence,’’ she said. ‘‘You can’t get
away from it.’’Turner, who went by the nickname ‘‘Soey,’’ had been playing
basketball at the Vine Street Community Center for about four to five
years, Hinton said. His great-uncle runs a program at the center that
brings together neighborhood children and seniors for fishing trips down
the Cape.

On the court, Turner was an aggressive ball player, Hinton said, but
he never fought with players or got angry over a bad call.

‘‘He was very quiet,’’ Hinton said. ‘‘If you got three words out of
him you were lucky.’’

Family and friends now can only speculate that the man who shot him
associated him with a rival.

‘‘You really have to learn to separate yourself,’’ Hinton said. ‘‘He
did a great job of separating himself from those guys, but when someone
thinks you’re with someone it’s kind of hard to prove you’re not.’’

Milton J. Valencia of the Globe Staff contributed to this report