On a summer night in Boston, 22-year-old Raheem Ramirez, a Black male, was fatally wounded in the Roxbury neighborhood. The shooting occurred around 11:08 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2015, in the area of 21 Greenville Street where shots were fired into a crowd. When police officers from the B-2 District arrived, they found Ramirez and another man, age 24, suffering from gunshot wounds. Both men were rushed to Boston Medical Center for treatment.
Ramirez was pronounced dead less than an hour later, while the second victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was expected to survive.
Witnesses at the scene told officers they saw two male suspects fleeing the area on a motor scooter immediately after the gunshots rang out. A description of the suspects was broadcast, and at approximately 11:15 p.m., officers from the Youth Violence Strike Force spotted two men on a scooter that matched the description near Dudley and Shirley Streets. The officers attempted to stop the scooter, but the driver initiated a high-speed chase, weaving dangerously through traffic and driving the wrong way down one-way streets.
The pursuit ended when the scooter came to a stop. The passenger, later identified as 19-year-old Elijah Small of Norwood, fled on foot while clutching his waistband. As officers chased him, they heard a metal object hit the pavement and later recovered a handgun in his path of flight. Small was soon apprehended. The driver of the scooter, 24-year-old Lamar Brison of Dorchester, was taken into custody without incident. Police noted that Brison made false statements about his whereabouts earlier that evening.
Both Small and Brison were arrested and initially held on $100,000 bail on charges including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. Brison also faced charges for motor vehicle offenses, obstruction of justice, and witness interference. At the time of their initial arraignment, it was not confirmed if they were directly involved in the shooting. However, following further investigation by the Boston Police Homicide Unit, which included ballistic tests on the recovered firearm, both Lamar Brison and Elijah Small were formally charged with the murder of Raheem Ramirez later in July 2015.
