The Middlesex District Attorney’s office identified a person found dead apparently from a gunshot wound July 4 near Broadway and Norfolk Street as Cambridge resident Xavier Bautista, 32.
Bautista’s family started a GoFundMe page with a goal of $25,900 to support his girlfriend and their five-year-old son with memorial costs. As of 2:30 p.m. on July 6, 129 donors had given $9,047.
“Anyone who knew him remembers Xavi for his playfulness, his huge smile, & his unconditional love for his family & friends. You couldn’t be serious around Xavier. He brought so much joy into our lives, and the world is a dimmer place without him in it,” the GoFundMe page read.
“Grieving this tremendous loss”
City manager Yi-An Huang sent an email to city employees at 3:51 p.m. July 4 saying Bautista was an employee of the Department of Public Works. It did not say what he did for DPW, but he was not on duty at the time of the shooting. Huang’s email said Bautista “was a valued member of the Public Works team and was deeply loved by his family and friends, all of whom are grieving this tremendous loss.”
Huang asked people to keep DPW colleagues in their thoughts. “They have lost a friend and teammate, and I know how difficult it will be for them as they carry this profound loss while continuing to serve our community.”
He asked people to “extend them support and compassion.”
Later Saturday afternoon a joint statement from Huang and Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui expressing condolences and saying “gun violence has absolutely no place in our city” was posted on the city’s website.
Voter registration rolls show a Xavier Bautista at 59 Norfolk Street, less than half a mile from Sennott Park, roughly where the body was found.
The DA’s office said Bautista appeared to have been shot shortly before 4:30 a.m. on July 4. His body was not reported until a pedestrian called it in at about 5:30 a.m. to Cambridge emergency services. The DA released its statement at about 3:30 p.m. July 4.
Earlier in the day the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) announced that an emergency call was placed a few minutes before 5:30 a.m. reporting a person laying on the ground near the intersection of Broadway and Norfolk. Police, fire and emergency medical services were dispatched. Paramedics from the Cambridge Fire Department declared the person deceased.
It is the first gunshot incident since Cambridge City Council directed the city to stop using ShotSpotter.
On Cambridge Day’s Facebook page some commenters said if ShotSpotter had been active it may have made a difference in keeping Bautista alive. More than one commenter stated that Bautista was shot three hours before his body was discovered. That conflicts with the district attorney’s statement that the shooting happened close to 4:30 a.m. Police spokesperson Sgt. Robert Reardon said “if somebody has information about something different” from the CPD’s timeline “we’d encourage them to contact our detectives.”
He confirmed that ShotSpotter is no longer in use in Cambridge but did not comment on its possible impact.
Reardon said there is an active investigation by CPD, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, and Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. He said there did not appear to be an active shooter threat to the community.
The CPD asked that anyone with information about the incident call it at (617) 349-3300. Tips can be shared anonymously via phone, text or email, follow instructions at the Submit an Anonymous Crime Tip page on its site.
This story has been updated with details about the victim, including a GoFundMe page set up by family members, and to add information from statements by Cambridge officials.
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Once again, it would have been helpful to have cameras on city streets. Perhaps the cameras would have showed who killed Mr. Bautista.
But, the city council doesn’t want to help the city police. It is more worried about “privacy.” There is no privacy when one is out on city streets, nor should there be.
City council members… put up cameras on all city streets.
Shame on Al Zubi who lead the misguided charge to shut off Shot Spotter, and to the city manager who bent to the whims of an inexperienced city councilor over his own police department.
I would like to understand better the City Council’s recent decision to turn off the ShotSpotter system. This man might be alive today, and his attackers apprehended, if first responders had been able to go to the scene immediately.
What an extremely sad situation and loss of life. Surreal to imagine someone laying on the sheet shot for an hour.
Maybe Al Zubi can talk to the victims family on how her decision to remove the technology to detect gun shots has made everyone safer.
We have reached a new level of lunaticity when we remove this technology from the area that needs it most with the reason that they are located in areas with the most shootings.
Ayah Al-Zubi sponsored the decision to remove the system. If you elect 24 year olds who think running an Instagram campaign is real world experience, this is what you get. I’m saying this as someone who is very liberal.