Boy shot in Dorchester, gangs suspected

By John M. Guilfoil and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A 4-year-old boy is in stable condition tonight after being shot in the back at a playground in Dorchester, where suspected gang members fired into a crowd, police said.

“Initial indications are that it’s gang-related,” Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said. “We’re not 100 percent certain on that, but that’s what we believe.”

A group associated with the Franklin Field area has been combative with other gangs in Dorchester, and police are investigating whether the feuding groups could be responsible. Police are looking to question two young men who appeared to be in their late teens who rode away on a white motorbike. Davis stopped short of calling the two men suspects.

“They’re wanted for questioning right now,” he said of the men, described as light-skinned black males, one of whom was wearing a white T-shirt. Davis said that just before the shooting, many families were in the park enjoying the balmy weather, sitting nearby on porches and having cookouts. “It’s outrageous that someone would do something like this in a public park,” Davis said. “It’s not acceptable.”

Police said the shooting erupted about 9:20 p.m. at the Harambee Park Playground, near the intersection of Talbot Avenue and Wales Street. The suspects rode up on the scene and fired into the crowd, police said.