‘The sweetest kid’: Authorities identify the teenage victim fatally shot in Cambridge

Authorities have identified the young man who was shot and killed in Cambridge early Saturday morning as Xavier Louis-Jacques. 

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Cambridge Police Commissioner Branville Bard confirmed the 19-year-old Cambridge man’s identity in a news release Sunday. 

Update: The identity of the victim in the shooting that occurred on Pemberton Street early Saturday morning has been confirmed as Xavier Louis-Jacques, 19 of Cambridge.  The investigation remains open and ongoing at this time.

— Cambridge Police Department (@CambridgePolice) March 28, 2021

A passerby reportedly found Louis-Jacques lying unconscious outside his vehicle on Pemberton Street around 12:40 a.m. Saturday morning and called 911. 

Officers said that as they arrived they discovered Louis-Jacques suffering from apparent gunshot wounds near the Rindge baseball field and the basketball courts. He was treated on scene before authorities brought him to Mount Auburn Hospital, where he later died.

Louis-Jacques’ mother told WCVB that her son may have been trying to sell a pair of sneakers when he was robbed and shot near his home. 

“The sweetest kid,” Rayschell McCants told the station. “He had no evil in his heart. He didn’t do much of anything that would jeopardize him to be in this situation.”

She said Louis-Jacques was an athlete and an artist. 

The investigation is active and ongoing, police said. 

Detectives are looking to speak with anyone who may have information on the incident, and urge any possible witnesses to call police at 617-349-3300, or submit a tip anonymously by dialing 617-349-3359 and leaving a message.