Police investigate shooting on Windsor Street in Boston

By Daniel Adams and Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff

A man was shot to death this morning in Boston in the parking lot of an apartment complex near the border of Roxbury and the South End.

Police used yellow crime scene tape to cordon off the parking lot of Mandela Homes, where the victim’s motionless body could be seen slumped on a sidewalk near a pickup truck.

Residents of the tall, well-kept brick buildings sat at their windows, looking down on the parking lot and the body. Dozens of investigators examined the scene, including an officer with a police dog.

Officials said officers responded to a report of a man being shot at 10:50 a.m. in the area of 11 Windsor St. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Several residents said they did not hear gunfire and only became aware of the shooting when more than a dozen police vehicles sped into the parking lot with their sirens blaring.

The violence startled residents like Abra Amedodji, who was in her apartment at Mandela Homes with her two young daughters when police banged on her door. Officers asked questions but did not tell her what occurred.

“I wish they would tell us what happened,” said Amedodji, who was worried about the safety of her children.

Mandela Homes is across from Ramsey Park, a block-wide recreational space between Shawmut Avenue and Washington Street that the city had recently targeted for a cleanup. Boston Police officers patrol the park on foot almost constantly, residents said, and the neighborhood is generally not dangerous.

“It’s all right. It’s safe. But you’ve got your ups and downs,” said Daniel Cooper, 35, who lives in Mandela Homes. “There has to be something behind this. If you are walking around minding your own business, you’re all right.”

Mandela Homes is an affordable housing development near Melnea Cass Boulevard and within sight of the Ruggles MBTA stop and several Northeastern University dormitories.

Residents said a large number of families and children live in the development, and that the incident stoked worries for their safety.

“It’s hard to tell them anything,” said 46-year-old resident Les Minnifield, who has lived in Mandela Homes for five years with his sons, ages 8 and 15. “My youngest, I tell him, ‘stay upstairs, do your homework, play your video games.’ ”

While Minnifield said he considers the area generally safe, he’s reluctant to let his younger son outside alone.

“When we go out, he’s always with me,” he said. “That’s just how I am.”