BOSTON, May 17, 2018—A 16-year-old juvenile has been charged with shooting another young man in the chest during a rush hour confrontation near Downtown Crossing earlier this month, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said.

The juvenile was apprehended yesterday at the Boston Juvenile Court, where he was scheduled to appear on an unrelated case for which he was being prosecuted. He was arraigned on one count of delinquency, to wit: assault with intent to murder for the May 2 shooting and held on $250,000 cash bail.

“I want to thank my responding officers and detectives for the hard work and dedication to justice that led to the arrest of the suspect in this case,” Commissioner Evans said. “The fact that the suspect was in custody approximately two weeks after the original call is a credit to my detectives, their professionalism and ongoing commitment to protecting and serving the citizens of Boston. As I’ve said many times before, an incident like this certainly underscores the fact that there are way too many guns out there and they’re way too easy to get. But, those who cause or create gun violence in our city should know there’s never an excuse for using a gun to hurt or harm another and the suspect in this case, a 16-year-old juvenile, will likely be regretting his decision to do so for many years to come.”

“Witnesses described a chilling scene in which someone could easily have been killed,” DA Conley said. “The gunman fired without any apparent provocation in a busy area crowded with people. What possible motive could explain that conduct, much less justify it?”

The juvenile allegedly shot the 17-year-old victim in the chest from three to five feet away shortly before 5:00 pm on Washington Street. The victim, who survived his injury, stated that he did not know and could not identify the person who shot him.

Other witnesses in the area gave responding Boston Police personnel a description of the gunman as wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt. They described a scene in which this gunman encountered the victim between Winter Street and Temple Place. This gunman pulled out a handgun and fired it, striking the victim, who cried out and ran away before collapsing on Temple Place. A witness called 911. Boston EMS responded and transported the victim to Tufts Medical Center for treatment.

Detectives obtained footage from public safety cameras at the Downtown Crossing MBTA station and private surveillance footage from businesses in the area. This footage showed the gunman wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt reaching into his pocket, extending his arm, and pointing it directly toward the victim. At this point in the footage, people in the area are seen to scatter.

The footage shows the gunman fleeing into the subway station, jumping the turnstiles, and boarding an Orange Line car. The footage suggests that he soon disembarked, walked up Tremont Street to Stuart Street, and left the area in a taxi.

Investigators learned that the juvenile was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor that placed him in the area of the shooting at the time it occurred, as well as moving from Tremont Street to Stuart Street as the gunman is seen in the video footage. Officers familiar with the juvenile identified him in this footage.

Based on the evidence developed in the course of their investigation, Boston Police detectives requested a warrant for the juvenile’s arrest. The clerk’s office of the Boston Juvenile Court denied that request but issued the complaint on which he was arraigned when he appeared on his unrelated case yesterday.

The juvenile will return to court on May 31.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.