25-year-old man fatally shot on Burrell Street in Roxbury; fourth slaying in a week

 

25-year-old man was shot to death in Roxbury on Thursday night as a spate of deadly violence continues to rock several of Boston’s communities. The man was shot in the head at 91 Burrell St. shortly after 11 p.m. and was later pronounced dead, police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said. No arrests have been made in the attack. Detectives were looking for evidence early this morning in front of Chin’s Bar and Grill at the corner of Burrell Street and Norfolk Avenue. A section of Burrell Street was blocked off with crime scene tape. It was the fourth homicide in the past week, extending a spate of violence that has alarmed community activists. The police commissioner has suggested that the warmer weather may be a factor. Antiviolence activist Emmett Folgert, executive director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, said Thursday before the most recent slaying that the amount of violence was anomalous. “We are looking at several different kinds of homicides all occurring within a short time span,’’ Folgert said. “There is what appears to be gang-related, but then you have several odd ones that really are extremely difficult to prevent because they are unconnected occurrences, not predictable and the motives vary. One thing we can do is work with the families of the victims, deal with the aftermath, so that violence doesn’t arise from what has happened in the past week.’’ Last year there were two homicides through today but this year there have been six, according to Boston police. The homicide victims range in age from 18 to 72. The first homicide of the year occurred on Jan. 14. Christopher Pichard, 18, of Lynn was fatally shot on Trull Street in Dorchester. The second homicide was on Feb. 9 in an apartment on Tremont Street in the South End, where a 50-year-old man was apparently bludgeoned to death. The other three homicides were in the past week. Mary Miller, the oldest victim, was stabbed to death inside her Codman Hill Avenue residence in Dorchester on Tuesday. Her upstairs neighbor, Tu Nguyen, 28, was arraigned on a murder charge in her killing and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. On Sunday, Keisha Gilmore, 25, was fatally shot at 26 Alabama St. in Mattapan as she sat in a car. Moments later, in an unrelated case in Blackstone Square Park in the South End, Mohammed Hassan, 21, of Boston was fatally shot. Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said Thursday before the latest homicide: “This week was a bad week, no question. . . . We had a couple of gang-related incidents and a couple of shootings outside of that, and we’ve been able to make some arrests. We’re satisfied that we are taking the right tack with these incidents.’’ Davis said police had cracked down on gang activity in the Blackstone area last year and are prepared to make more arrests in that area if warranted. Davis hinted that weather may be a factor. “We were under a heavy blanket of snow last year, and we don’t have that this year,’’ he said.

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