'Brazen' attack injures man, 19

Gunshots ring out in Codman Square

The attack was brazen, authorities said, carried out during yesterday's morning rush hour in the Codman Square business district. An unidentified gunman walked up to a 19-year-old Dorchester man and fired several shots. The victim crumpled to the ground just feet from a painting on the sidewalk of a white dove with a purple ribbon that reads, "Stop violence, Create peace."

The shooting, and the arrests of two suspects in the case, happened days after Boston ministers and police announced a second annual campaign for a "Season of Peace" to reduce violence in the city from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.

As people walked or drove to their jobs at 9:15 a.m., according to witnesses, the commotion erupted just outside a busy post office at the corner of Washington and Lyndhurst streets, a block from the Dorchester District Courthouse.

"This was a brazen attack, there were officers in the area" when this happened, said Deputy Superintendent Thomas Lee, moments after surveying the crime scene with several detectives. "The circumstances indicate the victim was picked out."

The victim is in critical condition after being shot several times, including at least once to the head. His name was not released. The Boston Police Department announced the arrests of Patrick M. Grier, 20, and an unnamed female, 16, both of Dorchester, on charges of assault with intent to murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

The sound of gunfire drew the attention of John Tran, owner of Spots Cleaners. He said he looked up from his sewing machine perched near his front window to see a man in a black leather jacket dash from the scene. Tran looked back to where the victim had fallen. Several people had rushed out of the post office carrying paper towels to aid the victim, who was bleeding profusely from his head.

Heather Bennett was driving her 7-year-old daughter to school and passed the scene just minutes after the shooting. They witnessed the commotion in front of the post office and saw the victim. "My daughter saw him lying there," Bennett said. "She was really shaken up."

Business owners, residents, and passersby said they were shocked because the area is typically calm, even though it may draw large crowds on most days. They say police routinely patrol on foot or in vehicles. There hasn't been a similar crime in the area for at least a decade.

"It's troubling to me because it happened at a time and a place you wouldn't guess," said a male resident who declined to give his name. "This didn't happen at night or in a back alley. It happened right here."

It is unclear whether the victim was coming out of the post office when he was shot. Lee said the assailant was on foot and close to the victim during the shooting. Lee would not comment on whether police had recovered a weapon. He said the two arrested individuals had been stopped and questioned by police shortly after the shooting because they fit descriptions given by witnesses. The Rev. William Dickerson, leader of Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester, arrived at the scene soon after the shooting. "Most likely, when people are gunned down like this, they are familiar with their assailant, but it doesn't calm fears of the community when something like this happens in broad daylight," he said.