Gas station worker slain in Dorchester
Beloved dad of 7 dies just before his birthday
A beloved neighborhood gas station attendant and father of seven, who should have been celebrating his birthday today, was fatally shot late Saturday while closing up shop at the Fabian Gas Station in Dorchester Center
— a routine his heartbroken sisters said Jose
Luis Phinn Williams had repeated six nights a week for the past 10 years.
Phinn Williams, a native Honduran in his 60s police said was the apparent victim of an attempted robbery, was gunned down in cold blood in the shadow of Dorchester District Court, where his accused killer, Kevin Williams, 21, is expected to be arraigned tomorrow.
Phinn Williams’ sisters, Rosa Phinn-Westby, 66, and Mayra Carbona, 56, said their brother was comfortable at Fabian because he could walk to work, despite having been mugged on the job two years ago, they said.
“He was a hard worker, good father, friendly, lovable — everything that’s good on earth. Now, he’s gone,” Phinn-Westby said. She said her brother had lived in America since 1970.
“He loves to dance, he loves to smile . ... Put the music on and he’s dancing,” she said with a bittersweet smile. “Everybody loved my brother. Everybody knew him. All women loved him.
“I really don‘t know what happened. I know he got shot and it went through his heart and he died,” she said. “It was an attempted robbery because, you know, he works with money. It was the end of his shift. Monday through Saturday. He’s off on Sundays,” she said, shaking her head, “because the guy goes to church.”
The sisters said they did not know the suspect.
Neighbor Maribel Torres, 45, said her heart skipped a beat when she heard the gunfire shortly after 11:30 p.m. Saturday because her daughter had just stepped outside to catch a cab. Fortunately, she said, she had already left.
“It was just one shot, but it was a big shot — very, very loud. It sounded like a metal gate slamming shut,” said Torres, who was in her kitchen at the time.
Phinn Williams, who she frequently saw sitting outside the office in a chair, was receiving chest compressions by the time she reached the scene.
“He was wearing a white T-shirt and the front of it was covered with blood,” Torres said. “I’m so heartbroken. Right here in front of the courthouse. I mean, what the heck?”
A man who identified himself as the owner of the family run fill-up station, but who declined to give his name, said Phinn Williams was “a nice guy, a wonderful guy.”