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Boston officials: Guns, SUV found in Mattapan slaying case

Print Posted by Martin Finucane September 30, 2010 01:14 PM

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By Milton Valencia, Mike Bello, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Photos: Mattapan slayings

(WCVB-TV)

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said this morning that information from the community had helped police investigating the Mattapan slayings find guns that are connected to the case.

"I want to thank the community for stepping forward and helping us solve these crimes. Their information has led us to different information that the police department is following through. It has led us to the guns just this morning," Menino said after a meeting with police officials at the Blue Hill Avenue clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.

Commissioner Edward F. Davis also revealed this morning that police had recovered a Ford Explorer SUV that investigators believe to be connected to the case. He said the car was found in the Grove Hall area within an hour of the shooting. Police have said since shortly after the slayings early Tuesday morning that they were interested in finding a gray or silver Ford Explorer.

An intensive investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made two days after the gunfire erupted on a residential street off Blue Hill Avenue. And law enforcement officials have released little information, except the bare outlines of the case. Five people were found shot near 40 Woolson St. shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday. Four, including a mother who was cradling her 2-year-old child, were killed. The fifth is clinging to life at a Boston hospital. The deaths shook a city that was already grappling with a surge in gun violence.

Menino declined to comment further on the discovery of the guns. Davis had no comment on the mayor's remark, a spokeswoman said. Asked in a separate interview before the meeting whether a gun had been found, Davis simply said, "There is various forensic testing that is going on with evidence that we've recovered."

Davis also said that a search overnight had uncovered some "really important evidence" in the case. Davis would not specify where the search had taken place, but he said it was not at 23 Sutton St. He said police are still working to obtain a warrant to search that address, which was the home of one of the victims in the case, Simba Martin, and is around the corner from the Woolson Street shooting scene.

"I want to make it clear that the people who have been calling in have made a big difference to our ability to solve this crime," Davis said. "This is a very active investigation and officers have been working around the clock since the incident occurred."

The stepbrother of the surviving victim, Marcus Hurd, 32, said Hurd had gone to the neighborhood to buy marijuana, an assertion that could buttress a police theory that the shooting stemmed from a drug-related encounter, the Globe reports today.

The stepbrother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hurd went to the scene in a Ford Explorer he had rented. Two law enforcement officials confirmed that Hurd, who was conscious immediately after the shooting and briefly able to speak, told police at the scene that he had gone to Mattapan to purchase drugs and the Explorer he had driven was stolen after the shooting.

Maria Cramer and Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.