Police seek help in fatal shooting

Police are urging those who attended a party that preceded the killing of a 22-year-old former Kentucky woman to reveal what they know, as investigators increase their focus on the events that led up to the shooting of Chiara Levin.

"It's critical for people who attended that party to come forward," Deputy Superintendent Daniel Coleman said during a press conference yesterday at police headquarters.

Coleman said investigators have interviewed the host of the party, who will be charged with violating a city ordinance that restricts after-hours parties. Other partygoers also have been interviewed, Coleman said.

"I'm not dissatisfied with the people we are aware of at this point, in terms of them providing statements to us," he said. "I'm a little dissatisfied, frankly, with people that were in the area who have not come forward."

The shooting, outside 415 Geneva Ave., was the third homicide in five weeks in the neighborhood. On Feb. 21, Andrew Keith, 22, was gunned down at midafternoon at Columbia Road and Devon Street. In the early afternoon of March 9, 18-year-old college student Quinntessa Blackwell was shot on Olney Street while walking past an elementary school.

Yesterday, Coleman, standing with Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, released new details about the Levin shooting. The New York resident was in town for a great aunt's birthday and went out Friday night with two male friends, Coleman said.

Law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation have said the three friends spent much of the night in downtown Boston at Caprice Restaurant and Lounge.

Sometime between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., the trio was approached by three Boston men, whom Coleman said police have identified but are not naming. The three men invited the friends to a party on Geneva Avenue and drove them there in a dark Cadillac Escalade pickup truck.

Levin and her friends were at the party for about an hour before they decided to leave. The men offered them a ride again. As the six people prepared to leave, gunfire erupted, and Levin, who was in the vehicle, was struck in the head. One of the Boston men was lightly grazed by a bullet, police said. Neither of Levin's friends was injured, as has been reported.

The Cadillac fled the site and stopped briefly in the area of Bowdoin and Adams streets, where the injured man and another of the Boston men left the vehicle before it continued to Boston Medical Center. Levin was pronounced dead just before 6 a.m.

"The coward who is responsible for this homicide snuffed out the life of a beautiful young girl," Davis said.

Police are also investigating whether a 22-year-old man who admitted himself to the hospital about 4 a.m. Saturday with a gunshot wound to the shoulder was connected to the party.

Coleman declined to comment on whether the case would be brought before a grand jury. (A subpoena from a grand jury would force witnesses to testify under oath.)

"It would be inappropriate and would not be prudent for me to comment about that," he said. "Generally speaking, a grand jury can be an effective investigation tool and asset in any of our complex investigations."

Coleman said that Levin's two friends, who a relative said were alumni of the University of Michigan, Levin's alma mater, were fully cooperative with police.

"They are understandably devastated at the loss of their friend," Coleman said.

Jonathan Schwab, Levin's cousin, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the family plans to hold the funeral in Danville, KY., where Levin grew up. "We're doing OK," he said.

He has said his cousin was probably not aware of how dangerous the area was when she accepted the invitation to the party.

Davis said the Police Department is trying to tackle the problem of after-hours functions and gang violence.

Since January, police have shut down 10 after-hours parties and 10 to 15 parties hosted by gang members that police learned about through fliers distributed throughout the city, he said.

Davis asked the public to call 911 to report after-hours affairs, which Mayor Thomas M. Menino has vowed to shut down because he said they often lead to violence. "We want to be notified before there's trouble," Davis said.

The latest killing served as a painful reminder of the reluctance of witnesses to speak out.

Emmet Folgert, executive director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, said community members have told him their lives have been threatened by gang members if they cooperate with police. "It's a longstanding problem," he said.

Police and community members, however, continue to look for ways to cooperate, Folgert said.

"The police have reached out on many levels to the community, at community meetings and directly to organizations," he said. "From [Commissioner] Davis down, everybody is approaching community leaders, and community residents and teenagers."

Levin's death moved Rev. Bruce Wall, pastor of Greater Ministries Church in Washington Street, to warn tourists to stay away from the city. "You will take your life into your own hands if you travel to Boston," Wall said in a prepared statement.

The Rev. William Dickerson of Greater Tabernacle Church, however, said the city remains relatively safe. "Even though we're dealing with these deaths, I still think Boston is a good place," he said. "We can't have an attitude of pessimism, although we need to be realistic that we need changes."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.