Boston Police sources say that last Thursday afternoon’s gunfire on Granite Avenue near Adams Corner— a 4 p.m. fusillade of bullets that left a young man dead — was the result of a road rage incident. In the immediate aftermath, officials delayed releasing the name of the victim.

Details of the deadly encounter are being tightly held by police as they seek to capture the gunman — and any accomplices— but the Reporter has been told that there is a known suspect in the case.

What is clear is that someone— whether through a murderous impulse or a ruthless plot— was reckless enough to unload a semi-automatic handgun on another person in broad daylight in the middle of a bustling neighborhood in the driveway of a family destination— McDonald’s.

The boldness of the shooter is a reminder that gun violence is a menace that can — and does— impact every corner of our city. All Bostonians are imperiled by the proliferation of illicit firearms that are being recovered with alarming frequency by the men and women of the Boston Police Department.
On just that one day— last Thursday, April 13:

• A 16-year-old was arrested just before 9 p.m. near Burke High School— the scene of another obscene daytime shooting that claimed the life of a student last year— for carrying a loaded .380 handgun on Washington Street.

• Later that same night, officers from District B-2 were called to Uphams Corner— specifically at Monadnock and Bird streets — where police and K-9 dogs investigating a recent shooting led to a trash can where a black .22 caliber Beretta firearm had been covered with debris.

• Just after 11 p.m., a radio call for a person with a gun brought Boston Police to 470 Blue Hill Ave. in Grove Hall, where surveillance video showed a suspect flashing a gun. When officers attempted to frisk the suspect, they report that “a violent struggle ensued during which the suspect attempted to evade and escape the officers’ custody.” When they did capture him, police say, they found a loaded Luger with a defaced serial number carried by 27-year-old Tyquan Evan. Police also say he threatened to shoot officers.

The day before, at about 8 p.m., police confiscated a .22 revolver from a 19-year-old from Dorchester following a shooting in Uphams Corner — near Bird Street— that left a 20-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim is expected to survive. The young man arrested in the company of the victim is facing illegal gun charges.

Later that night, police from District C-11, acting on a tip, stopped a car on Freeport Street and arrested a 23- year-old Stoughton man, who they say stashed a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun under his seat when they pulled the car over.

Two days. And those are just the incidents that made it onto the Boston Police public information site, BPDNews.com.

Part one crime — a category that includes homicide, rape, robberies, and assaults, and break-ins of homes, cars and businesses— is down 11 percent so far this year compared to last year, according to Boston Police. But official statistics paint a mixed portrait of gun violence in the city. Overall, through April 9, 39 people had been shot in Boston this year, an increase of four percent over 2016. There have been 6 shooting deaths, including the murder on Granite Avenue last Thursday, a slight decline from last year at this time.

So far this year, Boston Police say, they’ve arrested 121 people on firearm charges— up from 104 in the same period (through April 9) in 2016.

Bostonians can help the police by blowing the whistle on suspicious behavior. If you spot something, call it in — as someone did by flagging Boston Police to a person caught with an illegal gun on Freeport Street. The police need all the help they can get in taking this menace by gun — and the people who wield them— off our streets.