Four shootings may be gang-related

Four people have been shot in Framingham since February, but a wall of silence put up by victims and witnesses has hindered the search for those responsible, a police official said. That lack of cooperation is making it difficult to solve the shootings — none of which was fatal — even though investigators have ideas who may be responsible for some of them, Framingham Police Lt. Kevin Slattery, the head of detectives, said yesterday. So far, no one faces charges for shooting anyone in those four shootings. “Even if you know who did it, if you don’t have the victim identify them, it makes it hard,” said Slattery. “Some of these are gang-related. Sometimes they want to take care of things on their own.” The latest shootings occurred on March 31. Police had gone to Morton Street around 2 a.m. for a report of a large group. While there, officers found a gun, and they also discovered that a woman who was sitting in a car had gone to the hospital after being shot in her buttocks. Slattery said police don’t believe she was the intended target. During the investigation, police found out that the shooting may have stemmed from an earlier shootout on Beaver Court. Police went to Beaver Street and found “more than several” shell casings from two different guns. They also determined bullets had hit two cars. Witnesses identified one man who was involved, Christopher Cardona. Cardona, 22, of Medway, was arrested and charged with discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, possession of a firearm without a permit and driving without a license. He is being held on $17,000 bail for that case, but he had his bail revoked on a previous drug case. Investigators did not know, initially, that someone had been shot in the leg during that shootout on Beaver Court, Slattery said. “The person who was shot didn’t come forward to us,” said Slattery. “That person, in my opinion, is not excessively cooperative. The person who was shot says they don’t know who shot them and doesn’t remember anything.” It is possible the two March 31 shootings may be connected to the Feb. 2 shooting on Second Street. Slattery would not identify who was shot, but said a man was hit in the ankle. Two sources have confirmed the person shot on Feb. 2 was Cardona. “Some of the people involved in the shootings are the same,” said Slattery. “That victim, he didn’t positively identify who shot him.”

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