Violence claims stabbing victim

A 19-year-old CVS employee died last night after a suspected shoplifter stabbed him and another CVS employee and then fled into the Longwood Medical area, launching a dragnet that the killer eluded even as police dogs combed the corridors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The stabbing victim was the fourth homicide victim in Boston since Friday -- three of them teenagers -- and the 10th of the year.

"It's been a horrible weekend for the city and for the victims of these senseless acts," said Boston police spokeswoman Mariellen Burns, adding that Kathleen O'Toole, the newly named police commissioner, was very concerned about the violence. "From a law enforcement perspective, there's no pattern. But that's little consolation to the victims or to their families or to us," Burns said.

At about 9 p.m., the CVS employees became suspicious of a man in a red puffy jacket and black hat. The employees confronted him on the sidewalk outside the store at Brookline and Longwood avenues, police said. The suspect stabbed them and fled.

Willard Massie, a Beth Israel radiology employee, told WBZ-TV that he came upon the injured men and tried to help. "One was lying on the ground, blood coming out of his mouth, the left side of his neck, and the other guy was holding his neck, letting it go, holding his neck, letting it go. I gave him my, I guess, head piece to put on there to hold pressure and he stopped breathing so I started doing chest compressions on him and he came back, so he was breathing again."

The suspect managed to enter the Shapiro Clinical Center, which is attached to Beth Israel.

"Apparently the suspect did run in and escaped again," said Jerry Berger, hospital spokesman. Police sealed off the Shapiro center, where only after-hours cleaning staff were on hand until they were evacuated so police could conduct a floor-by-floor search.

The building is closed and doors are locked after 6 p.m., Berger said, so it was not clea