2 suspects sought in killing of teen in Stoughton

STOUGHTON, Mass. — A 17-year-old Randolph boy was killed in a shooting outside a Stoughton apartment complex Tuesday.

The victim, identified by his mother as Christian Vines, was found dying in the driver’s seat of his mother’s Honda in the parking lot of the Walnut Park Condominiums.

“I love my son,” Annette Vines said before collapsing in her aunt’s arms feet from where her son was fatally shot. “I just I can’t believe he’s gone.”

The teen would have graduated Avon High School and turned 18 next month.

“He’s a great kid,” said Annette Vines’s aunt, Margaret Hamlett Cash Griffin. “He’s to himself. He’s never in trouble.”

The heartbroken mother pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.

“That’s my baby,” Annette Vines said. “If you know something, please say something.”

Witnesses called 911 around 3 p.m., Tuesday, directing arriving officers to the critically injured teen at the Jones Terrace complex off Route 27. Police began first aid on him, before Stoughton Fire Department rushed him by ambulance to Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses told police two male suspects had run from the scene toward Walnut Street.

Police K9s and a Massachusetts State Police Air Wing assisted Stoughton officers in their search for the suspects, as nearby early childhood center, the Jones School, was temporarily locked down. By Tuesday night, no arrests had been made.

Annette Vines told reporters she had no idea why her son was at the Stoughton apartment complex.

In a news release, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said the victim had no known connection to the complex and was not known to Stoughton police. Investigators are looking into the reason Vines was there.

“We want to I.D. and find those people responsible,” Morrissey said. “Gun violence is – sorry to say – it’s one of the worst things officers face and people have to face in their communities.”

While there was no clear motive for the shooting, it did not appear to be random, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara said, reassuring residents in the area they were not in danger.

The case remains under investigation by Stoughton Police and State Police homicide detectives assigned to Morrissey’s office.

Traffic to Jones Terrace was shut down in both directions after the shooting.

>>>MORE: 45-year-old man dead after being shot multiple times in Mashpee

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