Mattapan shooting victim had been touched by tragedy

Police blocked off the scene of the shooting on Sunday.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Six years ago, Andrew Flonory addressed hundreds of family and friends gathered at Morning Star Baptist Church to mourn the deaths of his sister and 2-year-old nephew — victims of a mass shooting in Mattapan that left four people dead.

In a tragic twist, Flonory, 31, was shot and killed on Astoria Street in Mattapan Saturday night, less than a mile from where his 21-year-old sister, Eyanna Flonory, and her son, Amani Smith, were executed on Sept. 28, 2010. Police identified Andrew Flonory on Monday.

Flonory had been in Franklin Park in Boston for Juneteenth, a celebration commemorating the end of slavery in America, said a 28-year-old man who declined to give his name, but who said he was the victim’s friend and was with him.

Shots rang out shortly after 11 p.m. in front of a home where a resident was hosting a barbecue in her backyard.

Police said a second man was also shot but was expected to survive. He was found near the intersection of Elizabeth and Norfolk streets, around the corner from where Flonory was shot.

No one has been arrested, and the shooting remains under investigation by Boston police.

Family and friends created a small memorial for Flonory with candles on the sidewalk in the shape of a cross and in the shape of his nickname, Drew.

A woman who would identify herself only as Keshia said she knew Flonory’s sister and that his death is another blow to a family that has been hit hard by gun violence.

“His grandmother . . . she can’t take this anymore,” Keshia said as tears welled up in her eyes. “She raised them ever since they were younger and now she has to bury . . . her grandkids.”

Flonory had been working as a bricklayer, friends at the memorial said.

Flonory was traumatized by his sister’s death, said the Rev. Wayne S. Daley, formerly with the TenPoint Coalition, a faith-based community group that works to combat violence

“He tried to remain strong,” Daley said. “He was really trying to stay on the right track. He was stuck in the middle, trying to figure out how to change and how to get out of his environment.”

Daley, who now works with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, said he last saw Flonory in 2012 and was shocked to learn of his death.

Two months before his sister was killed, Flonory, who was then 25, was shot multiple times while waiting for a bus at the Red Line’s Ashmont Station in Dorchester, according to 2010 media accounts.

Flonory was shot in both arms, his torso, and back, police said then.

The 2010 slayings of Flonory’s nephew, sister, her 21-year-old boyfriend Simba Martin, and another man, Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, who had been sleeping on Martin’s couch that night, known as the Mattapan massacre, became one of the worst killings in the city’s recent history.

Three gunmen marched the victims up Woolson Street after they robbed Martin, a drug dealer, of crack cocaine and cash. The men then shot the victims.

In 2012, a Suffolk Superior Court judge sentenced Dwayne Moore to life in prison without the possibility of parole after an initial trial ended with a hung jury. Kimani Washington received 16 to 18 years for his role in the crime, and a third defendant was acquitted by a jury.

In Flonory’s killing, two law enforcement officials familiar with the case said police are on high alert for possible retaliation.

A marked police vehicle was stationed on Astoria Street Monday afternoon, and plainclothes officers were seen in the area.

Anyone with information on the shooting is encouraged to contact homicide detectives at 617-343-4470.