Man shot dead in Roslindale housing project

By Jeremy C. Fox and Derek J. Anderson, Globe Correspondents

A man in his 20s died Christmas night after being shot in the Archdale Village public housing development in Roslindale, Boston police said.

The shooting occurred at 20 Brookway Terrace, southwest of the Forest Hills MBTA station, at approximately 8:30 p.m., said Officer Neva Coakley, a Boston Police Department spokeswoman.

Coakley said the victim, whom she did not identify, had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the development Tuesday night, Deputy Superintendent William G. Gross said the shooting occurred in a pathway between Brookway Terrace and dead-end Bradeen Street.

He described the killing as an isolated incident and said police had made no arrests and had no suspects.

Gross said violence was unusual at Archdale Village. “It’s not a common thing in this area at all,” he said.

In the development, Christmas lights were visible in apartment windows and decorations glowed along porches of two- and three-story houses along Bradeen Street.

A passage between two buildings was cordoned off by yellow police tape. Behind the tape, a white sheet was draped over what appeared to be a body lying on the ground.

Neighbors came and went, craning their necks over the yellow tape in an effort to peer down the pathway. One man wore a red Santa Claus hat.

Marie Florant, a three-year resident of Archdale Village, described it as a tight-knit community. She said police patrols are frequent and she had seen little violence, and no previous shootings.

“This is the very first I’ve heard since I moved here, and I’ve been here for three years,” Florant said.

There have been at least six other homicides at the Archdale Village development since 1997. In June 2011, two 23-year-old men were shot outside a rear entrance to 115 Brookway Road.

In 2008, an 18-year old man who lived at the development was shot and killed and a 27-year-old man suffered non-fatal wounds as they sat in a parked car on nearby Fawndale Road.

There had been 55 homicides in Boston in 2012 as of Dec. 17, the most recent date for which statistics were available, fewer than the 61 committed in the same period last year.