The community is rattled, with some pointing out that barber shops are gathering points and should be a safe space in the neighborhood.
The search continued Thursday morning for whoever pulled the trigger in a fatal shooting Wednesday night at a barber shop in Dorchester, the latest killing to hit the Boston neighborhood.
Boston police responded to Celebrity Cuts on Washington Street, where a man was shot and killed just after 7 p.m. Wednesday, police and city officials said. He was identified as 43-ear-old Herman Maxwell Hylton of Roxbury.
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"He was a well-liked person," said Shawn Harris, who used to work at Celebrity Cuts with the victim.
In fact, Harris said he was there with him Wednesday night, a short time before the shooting: "He was cutting someone's hair and then, when I left, I went home — I was tired — and then when I woke up this morning, I had all type of messages."
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Officials say the shooting was targeted.
As of Thursday morning, the barber shop was still surrounded with crime scene tape and two marked cruisers were posted outside, as the search for the shooter continued.
"The fact that this took place inside a barber shop, a hub for the community, that is supposed to be a safe space for everyone to come and feel and look their best makes this all the more devastating," Mayor Michelle Wu said at a news conference.
The popular barber shop was open at the time of the killing, police said. Customers and friends said Hylton was a beloved barber there.
"This is another heinous act that we've had recently," Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said. "We need the public's help with this. This stuff needs to stop, and we're going to make sure that we're focusing in all the places we need to be to make sure we curtail some of this stuff that's going on around here."
"We’re going to do everything we can to bring this matter to justice, to figure out what if anything is going on, the connections," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.
Following a violent weekend in Boston, Mayor Wu and other local leaders held a news conference Tuesday to discuss what could be done to improve public safety. Her comments that day mostly centered around an increasing number of young people being involved in gun violence. Three people were fatally shot in Boston over the weekend.
Police have not identified any suspects or persons of interest in the barbershop shooting. The mayor, district attorney and police commissioner are now pleading with the public to come forward with any information on the deadly shooting.
Harris said that, regardless of whether the shooting was targeted, tensions in the neighborhood are rising too quickly, and Wednesday's deadly shooting represented a huge loss to the community.
"You see they already had a couple gunshots before this happened and so, I don’t know what’s going on, [but] you could talk it out, you know what I’m saying? Just use your mouth," Harris said.
