Another teenager is killed, this time in Dorchester

Michelle Flemming from Dorchester placed two stuffed animals at a makeshift memorial at a small park off Bowdoin Street where a 17-year-old was shot to death Tuesaday night.John Tlumacki/Globe staff/Boston Globe

A male teenager was shot to death in a small park in the middle of a busy Dorchester intersection Tuesday evening, Boston police said.

Police Commissioner William B. Evans confirmed the death, and said the unidentified victim appears to be in his late teens.

The teen is believed to be the city’s 54th homicide victim this year, he said, indicating slayings in the city have increased by a handful from 2016.

The victim is believed to be the fourth teenager felled by gunfire since Halloween, when a 16-year-old was killed in Jamaica Plain. In late November, a 16-year-old was shot to death inside a public housing complex in South Boston. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old was killed in a triple shooting in Mission Hill.

Evans condemned the city’s latest fatality. “We talk every day about the guns,” he said at the scene Tuesday night. “We talk about this violence. We all wish it would stop.”

Police responded to 344 Bowdoin St. after a report of shots fired around 7:15 p.m., Evans said. Officers found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. As of 9 p.m., the body had yet to be removed from a small park in the middle of the intersection of Bowdoin and Adams streets.

At the scene, Evans said it was unclear if the shooting was gang-related. “It wasn’t a random act by any means,” he said.

As of 9 p.m., no arrest had been made in connection with the shooting.

The slaying occurred near St. Peter Parish. The Rev. Richard Conway, a priest at that church, said the shooting had put the community on edge. Residents, he said, are nervous, and worried about their own children. “It doesn’t hurt just the family, it hurts the whole neighborhood,” he said.

At least 15 police officers responded to the scene. They used flashlights to search an area of Adams Street, and under a nearby Ford Sedan. Police interviewed witnesses and were checking video surveillance in the area, said Evans.

The crime scene drew several onlookers. At least one denounced the most recent example of gun violence to claim a life. “This is ridiculous,” said Denise Williams, 57, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. “It’s terrible. It has to stop.” Devin Dobbins, 28, who lives about a block from the shooting, said the incident made her want to move. “It’s scary to be a woman in the area,” said Dobbins, who moved to the neighborhood two months ago.

Parts of Bowdoin and Adams streets were closed to traffic near Kane Square.

A police photograph took a photo at the scene.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff