David Wood was a 51-year-old Black/African American man from Boston whose life ended in a burst of daytime gunfire on April 27, 2022, in the Roxbury neighborhood. Shortly after 11:40 that morning, Boston police were sent to the area of Wabeno and Wyoming streets after receiving a report that someone had been shot. Officers arrived to find Wood on the ground suffering from several apparent gunshot wounds. His injuries were fatal, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting occurred in a residential area only a short distance from William Monroe Trotter Elementary School and roughly a block from Boston Latin Academy, turning an ordinary weekday morning into an active homicide scene.
Police tape went up around Wabeno and Wyoming streets as investigators began examining the area. Aerial coverage showed evidence markers placed around a black sedan whose driver-side door had been left open, suggesting that detectives were carefully documenting the immediate surroundings of the shooting. Because of the proximity of the gunfire, Trotter Elementary School was placed into a precautionary “safe mode.” Students remained inside classrooms with doors locked and lights turned off while police searched the surrounding neighborhood and made sure there was no continuing danger to the school. Authorities later said the area had been cleared and there was no threat to students.
People who knew Wood described him as a familiar and helpful presence in the neighborhood. Janet Uzoma, the owner of the building near the shooting scene and someone who knew him through one of her tenants, said Wood worked as a mechanic and frequently helped people with their vehicles. She remembered him as a stand-up person who assisted neighbors. Family members told reporters that Wood left behind several children and grandchildren. The killing was especially unsettling to residents because it happened openly in the middle of the day, within sight of schools and homes. Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden publicly expressed concern about children being forced into lockdown while looking out at a homicide investigation unfolding nearby.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators did not announce an arrest or publicly identify a motive. The Boston Police Homicide Unit continued working the case and appealed for information from witnesses and community members. For months there was no publicly announced suspect in custody. That changed after a Suffolk Superior Court grand jury investigation led authorities to seek Timothy Timson in connection with Wood’s killing. By then, Timson had left Massachusetts, and the effort to locate the suspect extended beyond Boston.
The major break came seven months after the shooting. On November 27, 2022, officers from the New York Police Department’s Midtown South Precinct arrested Timson, then reported as 30 years old, in Manhattan. Boston authorities said Timson was wanted in connection with Wood’s homicide and was accused of being responsible for the fatal shooting. After the arrest, Timson remained in New York custody while officials arranged rendition to Massachusetts so the criminal case could proceed in Suffolk Superior Court. Contemporary reports continued to note that authorities had not publicly disclosed a motive for the killing.
The prosecution eventually advanced far enough for Timson to stand trial. That proceeding did not produce a final verdict: reporting in 2026 stated that the earlier trial had ended in a mistrial, leaving prosecutors with the option of trying the case again or resolving it through a negotiated plea. By June 2, 2026, the case had shifted significantly. Timson, who by that point was reported as identifying as female, was scheduled to change the previous not-guilty plea and plead guilty to manslaughter rather than continue facing the homicide prosecution through another full trial. The planned manslaughter plea represented a substantial development after nearly four years of investigation, arrest, extradition and court proceedings.
Online reporting available from June 2 described the manslaughter plea as expected that day rather than providing a detailed account of the completed plea hearing or a specific sentence imposed by the judge. Later Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court records from June 2026 identify the defendant as Timothy Timson and show Timson in Department of Correction custody, with arrangements being made for transfer to MCI-Framingham. The June 25 order concerned the location of Timson’s confinement rather than explaining the evidence in Wood’s killing or setting out the full criminal disposition, so the publicly accessible material reviewed does not establish a specific prison term with enough certainty to state one. What is clear is that Timson was the person arrested and prosecuted in connection with Wood’s death, that an earlier trial ended in a mistrial, and that the case subsequently moved toward resolution through a manslaughter plea.
