A gunman unleashed a hail of bullets in bustling Dudley Square in Boston’s Roxbury district yesterday, killing a disabled father of five and wounding four other bystanders, one critically, the Boston Herald reports.
“Bam, bam, bam! There were people on the ground,” said Isaiah Grant, 12, who was walking home from school when Lamar Tillery allegedly began blasting a .40-caliber handgun within view of a Boston police District station.
Tillery, 34, of Roxbury, a suspect in at least three bank robberies, was tackled after a foot chase by a Boston cop shortly after the 2:40 p.m. carnage erupted. It took the assistance of two transit police officers and a Boston police sergeant to subdue the still-armed gunman.
“We don’t know if it was totally random,” Boston police Superintendent-in-Chief James Hussey said. “We don’t know what the motivation is.”
A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley confirmed that Tillery was indicted on bank holdup charges last month and was free on $7,500 cash bail while awaiting trial on a gun possession charge stemming from a 2002 arrest.
“He snapped. He just snapped,” said Tillery’s aunt, Marion Jones. “I’m mad at the system. How you going to let out someone who robbed a bank? He was a good kid. I blame the police department. All I know is he has no business being let out of jail.” Jones said Tillery’s mother died when he was young and his father succumbed to a stroke two years ago. She had not seen her nephew since June and had no idea what led to yesterday’s shooting.
Link: http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shot11062003.htm