Do you know who killed Shongi? On the evening of August 31, 2014, a sense of unease settled over the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Just before 8:00 p.m., in the area of 52 Claybourne Street, the life of 24-year-old Shongi Fernandes, an African-American male, was cut short by gunfire. When police responded to calls of shots fired, they discovered Fernandes suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner would later rule his death a homicide.
In the days and weeks that followed, details about Fernandes's life began to emerge, painting a picture of a young man with aspirations. He had recently graduated from a program aimed at training Bostonians for careers in construction and was working as an apprentice sheet-metal worker. Beyond his trade, Fernandes had ventured into the literary world, co-authoring a novel titled "Ain't No Love in the Bean," which explored the violent underbelly of the city he called home. Adding another layer to his story, just a month before his death, Fernandes had filed a lawsuit against the Boston Police Department, alleging a civil rights violation from a 2012 incident.
Despite the public profile his death and life story garnered, the investigation into who was responsible for his killing has remained stagnant. The Boston Police Homicide Unit has actively investigated the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting and has made public appeals for information. Authorities have stressed the importance of community cooperation in solving the case and have provided contact information for detectives assigned to the investigation, hoping to unearth leads that might bring a resolution to the violent end of a young life. To date, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified in connection with the murder of Shongi Fernandes, leaving his case unsolved.
