On a quiet Saturday afternoon in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, a group of friends and neighbors were shattered by gunfire outside a home on Hiawatha Road. What began as an ordinary moment turned into a deadly scene — and for one young woman, life slipped away nearly a month later.
According to the Boston Police Department, officers responded on the afternoon of Saturday, October 11, to reports of multiple people shot near 2 Hiawatha Road. Upon arrival they found three individuals—two adult men and one teenage woman—suffering from gunshot wounds. All were taken immediately to local hospitals.
The young woman was later identified as G’Kiyah Lewis, an 18-year-old from Malden, Massachusetts. She had originally been listed in serious condition, but on November 7 she was pronounced dead, police confirmed.
The two men involved escaped with non-life-threatening injuries, according to officers. Details about how the shooting began, or what prompted it, remain murky. Detectives are treating the case as a homicide investigation and have called on the public for assistance.
Neighbors described the moment the shots rang out as sudden and chilling. One resident said they heard the sharp cracks of gunfire, looked outside, and saw two individuals fleeing on a motorbike down the quiet street. “We all ducked,” she recalled. “It was pretty scary.”
For the Boston Police Homicide Unit, Lewis’s death marks the 29th homicide of the year, at a time when the city remains on high alert for gun violence and its ripple effects across communities.
At this point, no arrests have been made. Investigators say anyone with knowledge of the incident — even passing photos or videos — should contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470, or anonymously via the Crime Stoppers Tip Line.
In the end, this was not just another crime statistic; it was a life lost, a neighborhood shaken, and a plea for help that remains unanswered. For the family of G’Kiyah Lewis, and for the community of Mattapan, the shooting is a stark reminder of how quickly a normal afternoon can become devastating.