Man Shot Dead in a Car on Beauford Lane in Dorchester. City Data Show Fatal Shootings Running Slightly Above Last Year

A man was found shot inside a vehicle on Beauford Lane in Dorchester late Friday and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Boston Police Department. Police have not released his name and have not announced an arrest.

Officers assigned to District B-2, which covers Roxbury and parts of Dorchester, responded at about 10:26 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, to a radio call for a person shot in the area of 12 Beauford Lane, police said in a statement posted Saturday morning. They found an adult male with a gunshot wound inside a vehicle. The department's Homicide Unit is investigating and asked anyone with information to call (617) 343-4470. Tips can be given anonymously through the CrimeStoppers line, and the department said the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team offers free, confidential support at (617) 431-0125.

WCVB reported that no arrests had been made as of Saturday. Police have not said whether the victim lived in the area, whether he was the driver, or whether anyone else was in the car.

The killing does not appear in the department's preliminary 24-hour tally posted Saturday, which covers 10 a.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday and lists zero homicides, three robberies and four aggravated assaults. The department notes that the daily tally is based on an initial review of reports and is not official crime statistics; a death investigation can be classified later.

To put Friday's shooting in context, Boston Uncut reviewed the city's Shootings dataset on Analyze Boston, the city's open data portal. The dataset, compiled by the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, contains incidents in which a victim was struck by a bullet, fatally or not, within Boston Police jurisdiction. It excludes self-inflicted wounds and shootings ruled justified. The city describes a seven-day rolling delay, but as of Saturday the most recent entry was dated Oct. 7, so the figures below run from Jan. 1 through Oct. 7 of each year.

By that measure, 2026 has had 17 fatal and 81 non-fatal shootings, 98 in all. Over the same stretch, 2025 had 15 fatal and 85 non-fatal (100 total), 2024 had 15 fatal and 91 non-fatal (106), 2023 had 23 fatal and 101 non-fatal (124), and 2022 had 21 fatal and 118 non-fatal (139). Total shootings are the lowest of those five years, while fatal shootings are two above the past two years.

District B-2 has consistently carried more of the city's shootings than any other district. Through Oct. 7, the dataset shows 4 fatal and 25 non-fatal shootings in B-2 in 2026, out of 98 citywide. District B-3, which covers Mattapan and parts of Dorchester, recorded 6 fatal and 17 non-fatal over the same period, the most fatal shootings of any district.

The monthly pattern this year is sharply seasonal. The dataset shows 7 shootings in January, 4 in February, 5 in March and 4 in April, then 15 in May, 20 in June, 23 in July and 14 in August, before dropping to 5 in September. October has only one entry so far because of the reporting lag.

These numbers have limits. Each record represents a shooting incident in the city's classification; the dataset does not list victim names, and recent weeks will change as the intelligence center finishes its review. A homicide by other means, such as a stabbing, is not included. Friday's shooting will not appear in the data for at least another week.

Police have not said whether investigators have identified a suspect or a motive, or whether the shooting is believed to be connected to any other incident.