A 23-year-old Kentucky woman visiting Boston to celebrate the birthday of her great-aunt was shot and killed as she left a Dorchester party early yesterday morning, spurring calls from city officials to put an end to late-night parties, where violence often breaks out.

The woman, whom a Kentucky neighbor identified as Chiara Levin, was raised in Danville, Ky., a town of about 15,000, and traveled extensively, living in France before taking a job at a New York public relations firm. The valedictorian of her high school, she graduated last year from the University of Michigan, said the neighbor, Alice Davis, who said she spoke with Levin’s mother yesterday.