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Boston police probe Roxbury slaying

E-mail|Link July 26, 2010 04:30 PM

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Boston police are investigating the fatal shooting Sunday night of a 19-year-old Boston man near a popular Roxbury park.

The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of his family and an autopsy.

At 10:01 p.m., police officers on patrol in the area of Washington Park were directed to the crime scene by people in the area. The officers found the man lying on the ground near tennis courts at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Walnut Avenue. The victim was rushed by ambulance to Boston Medical Center where he was soon after pronounced dead.

Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the victim was known to police but it was "unclear whether or not it was a targeted attack." She said investigators received "very little cooperation'' at the scene after the shooting. "We're hoping any additional witnesses will come forward."

Near the crime scene this afternoon, a group of children participated in a sports program at the tennis courts. A nearby city pool was open, and several residents shot basketballs into hoops at a court next to the tennis courts. City workers picked up trash and raked tree limbs and other debris from grassy areas at the park.

Most of the numerous visitors to the park were unaware of what had happened here less than 24 hours earlier, and residents living in apartments on the other side of King Boulevard said they only heard sirens around the time of the shooting.

The homicide is the city's 33d this year, compared with 27 in the same period in 2009.