Boston police are investigating a shooting that broke out on Boston Common Tuesday evening, leaving a 19-year-old critically injured.
The shooting occurred near the park’s bandstand around 6:45 p.m. Three people are in custody after a hectic scene with multiple police chases, officials told reporters at the scene on Tuesday.
As of Wednesday morning, no charges have been filed against those three.
The victim’s identity has not yet been released. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters that the victim, from Hyde Park, was in critical condition at Tufts Medical Center, according to the Boston Globe.
A gun was recovered at the scene as well, Evans said Tuesday night.
Officials do not believe this is a random act, he added. The victim and the three in custody are known to the police and officials believe an argument occurred before the gunfire.
The three in custody led the police on multiple chases, in which two of them were on mopeds, officials said, and the other on foot.
One of the persons of interest fled into the train tunnel at the Arlington MBTA Station.
“When the train came, I was about to board, he just ran in front of me and went into the tunnel and police just came down,” Emerson junior Yilin Zhen told WBZ.
Zhen said she didn’t get a good look at the person “because he kind of seemed suspicious.”
Mayor Marty Walsh was at the scene Tuesday night and spoke out about what seems to be an increase in gun violence.
“These are happening too much, these shootings,” he told reporters.
He noted that Boston had a six-week period “where we’ve had a pretty relatively peaceful summer.” Still, he urged the public to help police get guns out of the hands of teenagers and off of the streets.
“Life is too valuable,” he said.
