September 06, 1985 - A passerby saw a body on the ground around the back side of 175 Northampton Street. Police responded, and found a 14 year old girl, Keesha Monique Gillian and pronounced her dead at the scene with apparent gunshot wounds.
Info Source(s):
Thanksgiving, 2008, Paul Brown Jr. (29) died during a violent altercation. The brother of a Boston Police Officer, Brown did promos for WAAF-FM radio, worked security at Gillette Stadium, and sold concessions at Fenway Park.
Police said the murder resulted from mistaken identity.
Anthony Lewis (25) was also murdered in Dorchester on Thanksgiving Day. Police charged Randolph resident Damien Smith (31) in that case.
The Boston Herald reported this incident on November 30, 2008. (https://www.bostonherald.com/2008/11/30/holiday-murders-take-tragic-toll/)
January 12, 2019 - Edward Mowring, known to friends as Lorenza, got fatally stabbed while walking to a package store on Blue Hill Ave, near Dudley Square. It was the 3rd homicide of the year in Boston.
Relatives described Mr. Mowring as a sweet and gentle man who walked with a limp. He was on his way to buy his room mate some beer when he was violently attacked and killed on the street. No arrests have been made yet in this case.
Documents related to this case:
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/01/16/edward-mowring-murder-boston
4 February 2005
Alexander Gonzales died from the trauma of a bullet traveling into his brain. The conflict started around 2am outside of the Paradise Rock Club. Boston's own Addison Groove Project and the Akashic Record just finished a show. 32-year-old Gonzales tried to enter the club, but bouncers rejected him at the door. They say they went back inside to start closing.
Dead by 2:28am at Beth Israel, within 30 minutes a scuffle escalated to murder. What drama unfolded before shots fired? Why was he trying to get into the club? Was this years in the making, or days or just minutes? The man had a heart condition, looked heavy. He held a piece, police say. After the gunshots, several people tried to help him up off the sidewalk, so there were witnesses. Maybe his killer helped too.
Jazz grooves just dying
madness commenced at the door
first (maybe) he ran
2 February 2005
William Clayter moved to a dead-end street in Mattapan. 17 years-old, he shared an apartment with his mom, another woman and her son, Brandon Henderson who was 24. Clayter and Henderson drove together that day a few blocks away from their home. An SUV slid up. Men jumped out and opened fire.
They hit Henderson in the jaw, Clayter in the chest. Clayter died on the sidewalk. He went to Hyde Park High School and had no criminal record. Henderson had been arrested several years earlier on gun and drug possession charges.
The fued that fueled this hit and run is probably still remembered by someone, maybe retold ad nausiam to a barber. Or nobody really remembers what started the thing, just that it happened, and Henderson did not talk.
Driving down the block
they got ambushed. An SUV
stopped, and lit them up.
1 February
Terrance Young died in Boston Medical Center. He faced multiple bullets on the At the intersection of Eustits and Dearborn Streets, near Upham's Corner, he met death. An 80 year-old lady related to his 2 year-old daughter said, "They have to get those gangs off the street."
Imagine the altercation as though it were a mugging. "Run your shit." Becomes, "Run." Wrong way. The gang (maybe) came from behind him, and he turned. Maybe they knew him. Maybe he still owed them for his seventh. Whatever the reasons, the reasons hit his chest. We know he was walking.
Capital punishment
for a debt or glance poorly
met in Roxbury
31 January 2005
Carlos Benito Garcia Cruz died in a pool of blood in his apartment. He lived with Manolo Salazar, his killer. What made them enemies? Did he cheat in poker? Were they friends, or joined by the Want Ads? Did they travel together from Guatemala? Were they secret lovers? Did they speak even the same language? Can we blame the kitchen knife?
Covered in blood, Salazar fought police. He failed to escape. He was the same age as his roommate, 41 (or maybe he was just 39, if we put more faith in a later article), when he slit his throat. How long they stuggled, when the seeds of malcontent were sown is immaterial. Salazar was captured, tried and convicted. It's an old, old story. New text does not fix their quarrel.
Police subdued Salazar as he acted crazy in the street, and EMTs took him to the hospital. While nurses treated wounds on his hands, police noticed an unusual amount of blood soaked his cloths. Thinking someone else must have been injured, they searched Salazar's apartment where they found Cruz with his throat slit.
Resentment or rage
grasped a kitchen knife and ended
the lives of two men
29 January 2005
Michael Young died on Crowell Street at 4am. Imagine the party ending. Imagine the buzz, the bubbles in the blood. Imagine the altercation. Who said what to whom? What popped off? Whatever triggered these nerves, this murder left two girls and a little boy fatherless.
Ardent swimmer working for the Recreation Department, he moved with his mom to Dedham. She told reporters she wanted to get away from random chaos. "Anytime the kids needed anything, he was right there," His mom said. "That's my son, my friend, my buddy."
Returning to visit friends on Norfolk Street, staying out into dark hours, Police said he died just before the sun rose.
No time to hear shots
no ducking that friendly fire
Mike Mike died with friends.