Authorities still mum over two fatal shootings
A makeshift memorial was set up yesterday where a former Franklin Pierce University student was shot dead in Somerville, while authorities remained silent on whether there is any connection between that slaying and the killing of a Dorchester man 7 minutes and 2 miles apart early Saturday morning.
Authorities identified the two shooting victims but gave no other details. No suspects had been announced as of last night.
Kevin Raymond, 20, who left Franklin Pierce in the spring after two years of study, was fatally shot in a parking lot at 3:37 a.m. Saturday near a community vegetable garden at the Mystic View projects in Somerville’s Winter Hill neighborhood.
A woman who identified herself as Raymond’s cousin declined comment yesterday on his death on behalf of the family, explaining it was “too soon” after their loss.
Ednilson Decosta, 28, was shot to death at 3:30 a.m. Saturday while sitting in a vehicle at Windsor Street and Evereteze Way in Cambridge, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office. Decosta’s family could not be reached yesterday.
Raymond, a 2015 graduate of Somerville High School, where he played running back for the Highlanders, was a linebacker for the Franklin Pierce Ravens sprint football team during his freshman year there.
“Kevin was a gifted athlete who made many friends on campus and was well-liked by fellow students,” said FPU President Kim Mooney.
A makeshift memorial of candles, red roses and carnations and empty bottles of Hennessey cognac was set up yesterday at the base of a basketball hoop where Raymond was killed. Balloons tethered to a fence declared “Fly High K-black,” “We love you,” and “You’re the best watch over us.”