Justin Bettencourt, 21, male, left home for an ordinary Tuesday and crossed paths with the chaos that gathered near Horatio Harris Park in Roxbury on May 13, 2025. Just before 3 p.m., police were called to 107 Munroe Street, where officers found him suffering from a gunshot wound; he was rushed to a local hospital and later pronounced dead. Authorities identified him as a Dorchester resident, and the death was immediately treated as a homicide.
Witnesses described hearing multiple shots, and by the time sirens converged on the block, bystanders saw a young man bleeding on the pavement across from the park. Investigators scoured the street and recovered at least seven spent shell casings, a grim tally that suggested a concentrated burst of gunfire in the middle of the afternoon.
Detectives began piecing together a route out of the neighborhood, looking closely at whether the attack involved a drive-by on a moped. Two mopeds were recovered a short distance away on Kensington Street and towed as possible evidence while investigators sifted through conflicting accounts from the scene. As evening fell, residents voiced exhaustion with the violence, and police renewed their call for videos and tips that might clarify who moved through the streets in those crucial minutes.
No arrest was announced in the immediate aftermath. Boston police said the Homicide Unit was actively reviewing the facts and circumstances and urged anyone with information to contact detectives. News outlets reported that as classes let out at nearby schools, word of the shooting spread quickly, but authorities did not release a suspect description. Days later, friends and family gathered to remember a young man who worked at TD Garden and loved Boston sports, even as the investigation pressed on without a named suspect.
