Just about one hour after Police Commissioner Willie Gross and his Command Staff handed out backpacks to kids heading back to school, three blocks away a Lynn man and Roxbury man were shot in their vehicle on Decatur Street – with both eventually succumbing to their injuries.
The double fatal shootings were the first homicides in the Town in two years.
According to Boston Police, at about 7:29 p.m. on Sept. 17, officers assigned to District A-15 (Charlestown) responded to a radio call at 74 Decatur St. for a motor vehicle accident as well as shots fired. Upon arrival, officers located two adult males in a motor vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds. One male victim, later identified as Wildeny Tejeda-Mejia, 24, of Lynn, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene. The second male victim was transported to a local area hospital with life-threatening injuries. That second male victim succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday and has been identified as David Martinez, 28, of Roxbury.
Incidentally, a shots fired call was reported very close by on Samuel Morse Way a week prior, on Sept. 11, around midnight. A bullet was located inside one of the nearby apartments at that time.
On the scene last Thursday night, Commissioner Gross and DA Rachael Rollins spoke to the media about how the neighborhood stuck together and called 9-1-1.
“There are many children in this neighborhood; there are parents and it’s a very tight neighborhood,” he said. “The only way to defeat these acts of violence is to all stick together. Thank you to the neighborhood because you called 9-1-1. You didn’t have to call 9-1-1, but you did pick up the phone and that will help us in this investigation…There are good people and bad people and we can’t tell you where they will be. I can tell you right now…the neighborhoods of Boston are not desensitized to violence and they are helping the Boston Police and the DA in solving these crimes.”
Gross said it appears that the deceased were in the car and it was in motion when they were shot – as opposed to being parked on the side of the street. He said because shots fired calls came in, and simultaneously a motor vehicle accident came in, one can surmise the occupants were shot and then crashed as a result of their conditions.
DA Rollins said they will work hard with the Boston Police to bring those responsible to justice.
“This happened around dinner time and there are children living in this community,” she said. “As they were wrapping up their summer and preparing to go to school, this violence happened right in front of where they live. We came to show our support. The Boston Police are working tirelessly to get answers and to find out who these individuals were and what they were doing here…We want this community to know we will work hard to hold the individuals responsible.”
Gross said there was a call put out on the radio to keep people inside their homes while the investigation went on.
“We don’t want kids, parents, grandparents to see such a gruesome scene,” he said. “Everyone did the right thing. They called 9-1-1 and remained inside their homes. This is a great neighborhood. They work in concert with Capt. Ciccolo. We’ve gone over things like this – about seeing something and calling it in. They did that.”
The Boston Police Trauma Team is available for those in the neighborhood who need help dealing with the violence. They can be reached at (617) 431-0125.
The Boston Police Department is actively reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident and is asking anyone with information relative to this investigation to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at (617) 343-4470.