Police commissioner demands action after student killed in shooting outside Dorchester high school
Boston’s police commissioner demanded action from the Dorchester community after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead outside of his high school Wednesday afternoon.
“When a 17-year-old dies on the street outside of school, we should all be outraged,” William Evans said. “And shame on anybody who doesn’t step up to the plate and help us solve this.”
A block behind him, the body of the dead teenager lay on the sidewalk, shielded from view as detectives worked around him.
Not long before the gunfire broke out in front of Jeremiah E. Burke High School, a fire alarm went off inside the school. Students spilled out but most were back in the building when the violence started just after 1 p.m.
The teenager, who officials have not yet identified, had walked out of the school and onto Washington Street when he was shot. Two other young men and a 67-year-old woman were also hit by gunfire and expected to survive.
Evans said that he didn’t know if the young man was targeted, or whether the fire alarm was connected to the violence.
An hour after the shooting, on the Geneva Avenue side of Burke High School, a woman was brought into the building by Boston police officers. Moments later, she ran out screaming.
“No, no! My f—ing son’s dead!” she yelled. “I can’t do it!”
She nearly collapsed and had to be carried down the stairs to a waiting car as she wailed.
The boy is the 13th homicide in Boston this year.
Mayor Marty Walsh, who came from Logan Airport directly to the scene after arriving back in Boston from China, echoed Evans’ frustrations.
“A 17-year-old kid shouldn’t be dead today,” Walsh told reporters. “He should be getting ready for the summer.”
The Burke shares a building with Dearborn STEM Academy and both schools — plus the nearby Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School and the Martin Luther King, Jr. K-8 School — were put on lockdown for about an hour.
Outside, parents and friends of students waited, frantically texting and calling those who hadn’t yet emerged. Some parents began weeping when their children walked out around 2:15 p.m.
David Centeio stood outside waiting for his 15-year-old daughter, a student at Dearborn STEM.
“It’s not a safe place,” he said of the neighborhood. “But the school itself is pretty strict.”
The Burke, previously one of the worst performing schools in Massachusetts, has made huge improvements over the past few years. Last fall, it was recognized as the city’s most improved public school and won $100,000 for the honor.
Victoria Johnson, a 17-year-old Burke junior, talked about those accomplishments outside on Washington Street. Tears ran down her cheeks thinking about the slain student. And she thought of what people might say about her school now, too.
“What are people going to think about the Burke now?” she said.
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