A 16-year-old boy is dead after a late-night shooting Tuesday in Jamaica Plain, Boston Police said.
Police officers and EMTs responded to a radio call reporting shots fired in the area of 944 Parker St. in Jamaica Plain at 11:47 p.m., police said, and found the 16-year-old male victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.
The victim was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. WBZ Radio reported Wednesday morning that police officials believe a fight between two groups led to the fatal shooting.
“We’ve got to stop the senseless violence,” Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said after the shooting, according to the Boston Globe. “Unfortunately, tonight, we’ve got a young kid killed.”
House Ways and Means Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez, in whose district the fatal Tuesday night shooting took place, has been pushing for funding for a youth violence prevention program known as the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in a budget bill that the House and Senate are negotiating.
“Instead of wasting time on procedural matters, we should be working on important policy and fiscal matters,” Sanchez said earlier this month, accusing senators of causing an “unnecessary delay” with the budget bill. “In my neighborhood, I have guns blazing. That SSYI money makes a difference. It goes to the issue of urban youth violence.”
The House included $4.7 million for SSYI in its version of the supplemental budget bill, but the Senate included none. Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka has said she will not include fiscal 2018 money, like the SSYI funding, in the fiscal 2017 close-out budget.
Sanchez has insisted the money for the SSYI grants is “available FY ’17 revenue.”
The News Service reported Tuesday that one person familiar with the budget bill negotiations said the Senate made an offer of “substantial funding” for SSYI that fell short of the House’s $4.7 million total and was rejected by the House.
Boston Police ask that anyone with information on Tuesday night’s killing contact Boston Police homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470.
