On a summer night in Boston, the life of a 31-year-old Black/African American man, Andrew Flonory, was tragically cut short. On June 18, 2016, just before 11:30 p.m., Flonory was approaching a large party on Astoria Street in the Mattapan neighborhood when gunfire erupted. A man inside a fence at the party's location produced a firearm and fired repeatedly at Flonory and another individual.
Flonory, a resident of Brockton and a father of five with a sixth child on the way, was fatally wounded in the attack. The second person was shot in the shoulder and leg but survived.
For the Flonory family, this was not the first time they had been struck by such a devastating loss. In 2010, Andrew's 21-year-old sister, Eyanna Flonory, and her two-year-old son, Amani, were among four people killed in a horrific event that came to be known as the Mattapan massacre. Andrew himself had reportedly survived a murder attempt just a week after his sister and nephew were killed. The family's profound grief was once again brought to the surface by Andrew's violent death.
In the months following the shooting, the Boston Police Department conducted an investigation that led them to a suspect. In November 2016, officers from the BPD Fugitive Unit and SWAT team apprehended 24-year-old Julian Troche while he was sitting in a car in the Fenway neighborhood. Troche was charged with the murder of Andrew Flonory and was ordered held without bail. The evidence presented by the Suffolk County District Attorney's office included witness statements identifying Troche as the shooter, as well as shell casings and cell phone records that placed him at the scene of the crime at the time of the homicide. While awaiting trial for Flonory's murder, Troche was also indicted for another murder that occurred in Franklin Field five days before his arrest.
