12:41 AM: Police are on both sides of SW Roxbury around 18th SW after a report of gunfire. So far it sounds like they’ve confirmed bullet damage along the parking lot on the south side of Holy Family, including at least three vehicles, and at least 19 shell casings. Officers told dispatch that witnesses reported three people getting out of a white Tesla, opening fire, then getting back into it and leaving. No injuries reported so far.
12:46 AM: Officers just told dispatch there are two scenes in the parking lot, and the second one has at least 15 “handgun rounds.” They’ve mentioned finding “rifle casings” too. But now another witness is telling police the Tesla was dark, not white.
12:54 AM: Police report finding a “bullet fragment” inside a building adjacent to the church lot. (Note that this is an SPD investigation despite Holy Family being south of Roxbury; the city limit jogs south there to keep the church campus inside the city.)
ADDED MONDAY AFTERNOON: We asked SPD for report narrative – which would provide the most details made publicly available until and unless someone is arrested and prosecuted. Here’s the entirety of the redacted report we received:
On 03/23/2025 at 0024 hours I was working uniformed patrol as 3F2. I was dispatched to 94XX 18 Av SW for a report of shots being fired. I arrived with multiple officers and was notified by people at a large event at the XXXX that the shots were fired further south. The scene was located at 96XX 20 Av SW in the parking lot to the south.
Officers arrived and were advised by witnesses that four suspects were firing shots from handguns and a rifle. Witness XXXX stated that he had XXXX of the incident. Officers provided XXXX with the XXXX XXXX. The four suspects that were shooting and one driver fled the scene in a dark colored, unknown plate XXXX, southbound in the alleyway.
Suspect #1 Unknown race male, black puffy jacket hood up, blue jeans. Suspect #2 Unknown race male, XXXX. Suspect #3 Unknown race male, XXXX. Suspect #4 Unknown race male, black hoodie and XXXX. Suspect #5 Unknown race male was driving the Tesla.
No victims were located at the scene or surrounding area. Multiple vehicles were struck in the parking lot and damaged. Approximately XXXX and live rounds were located at the scene. There were no indications that this was a hate crime associated with the Ramadan event taking place nearby. GVRU and the Duty Captain were notified. GVRU responded and processed the scene.
The Ramadan event is a reference to a mosque on the other side of Roxbury, where the gunfire was clearly heard, but there was no indication any actually happened there (there was some initial police response while officers sorted out what had happened and where). GVRU is short for SPD’s Gun Violence Reduction Unit.
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