Man shot to death at Jamaica Plain barber shop

By adamg on Sat, 09/22/2018 - 10:32pm

Victim identified as Felix Paulino, 25, of Mattapan.

Boston Police report a man, believed to be in his 20s, was shot at the Professional Barber Shop, 140 South St., around 9:50 p.m. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

2018 murders in Boston.

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Comments

Barber shops the new Combat Zone?

By O-FISH-L on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 1:18am.

First my sympathy to the victim and his family. I don't keep track but maybe some Northeastern or BU Criminal Justice students could do a study. How many Boston barber shop shootings in the past several years?

I realize sitting in the high barber's chair with the cape and scarf around the customer makes him a target of opportunity but still? Usually plenty of witnesses (the barber(s), those waiting, others passing by on street during barber's hours). I see that this was 9:50 pm. Late hours for a barber shop but we used to worry about the late night 24/7 gas station attendant working alone or the 7/11 clerk overnight. Sad the risk of getting a haircut in Boston.

In the old days, all we had to worry about was a Barber of Seville type with the straight razor at your throat.

You seem

By THE_WIZ on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 6:01am.

Like the slacks wearing type. Maybe with a nice pleat. Maybe not.

In any case your language and your development allow me to know you are an insipid honkey. Now before we get all riled up. I have the privilege of wielding said colloquialism because I too am a honkey...

So,

Without further digression...

Barbershops are where lots of neighborhood business “goes down.” Most barbershops are also like men’s clubs where drugs or other illicit joys are foundational. The haircut is secondary in many times to the experiences and culture of the barbershop.

Most barbershops also an affront for the neighborhood players when needed....

Also,

A small confined space, where someone is relaxed and waiting, where they feel safe and or reclined with eyes closed for a shave or a cut....is a great spot to settle debts traditionally.

In case you missed it barber's chair, target of opportunity

By O-FISH-L on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 9:19am.

I realize sitting in the high barber's chair with the cape and scarf around the customer makes him a target of opportunity but still?

That was from my original post. I use "target of opportunity" because a police academy drill instructor once marked me down for using "sitting duck."

I appreciate your insight on urban barber shops, seriously. My local shops are usually old Italian guys or younger moms who want to talk Red Sox or Patriots.

I'm not even sure in this case if the victim was in the chair but he was at or near the shop. Sad either way but there have been times I've been in Boston needing a haircut and seen an open chair, it makes one wonder whether to take it. I like Commissioner Gross and believe he and his crew will solve it.

'Urban' barbershops

By Parkwayne on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 11:03am.

My experience with white barbershops around here is one I frequent is almost certainly a bookie and the other one I frequent definitely has a few guys who can probably get you what you need. I don't think 'urban' barbershops are unique in terms of being a marketplace for off books capitalism.

Your essay is a distorted

By "Culture" not murder on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 9:15pm.

Your essay is a distorted look on a service that traditionally provides hygiene and glamorizes crime, normalizes violence. .It is no wonder neighborhoods fight with small business men who try to open shops. Where do you take your little boy to get his hair cut?

This really isn't an "urban" barber shop in the ghetto either...

By Pete Nice on Mon, 09/24/2018 - 7:32am.

Not that Boston has any Ghettos, but this is for all intents an purposes a very nice neighborhood, and getting nicer.

Have you never watched any mob movies?

By mseskin on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 10:36am.

Dude getting whacked in a barbershop is literally a trope to such a degree that movies routinely play it for misdirection.

In the old days

By Daan on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 11:11am.

In the old days of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (now just a group home for older adults I think). In the old days when fallen women received their just deserts from corrupt cops who ignored the women's prostitution so long as the pimp's made their payments. The old days of protection money (now it's legal and called details).

"In the old days," "the good old days," when life was perfect, not a leaf was harmed falling to the Earth." Living in the present is not easy; it's harder to deny reality of the present (though plenty work hard at that).

Living in the past is seductive. It offers a sweet forgetfulness that the past was just as good and wretched. That seduction is poisonous. It allows us to forget the sins and hidden crimes of the past. That gives permission to continue committing the same sins and violations in the present.

Well written and I totally agree

By O-FISH-L on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 12:51pm.

I never said police officers were saints in the past or the present, anyone can take the exam.

I just find the uptick in barbershop shootings to be interesting. Maybe it's just me but I don't hear of regular shootings at the urban sub shop or car wash as much as barbershops lately. I have gotten my haircut in Boston many times and these incidents make me think twice.

That’s just a wee bit

By Bostonwoke on Sun, 09/23/2018 - 1:27pm.

That’s just a wee bit dramatic. You’re not going to get your haircut in Boston anymore? You’re going to have hippy hair then.

Well, just

By whyaduck on Mon, 09/24/2018 - 8:15am.

because you, Fishy, do not hear of "regular" shootings at "urban" sub shops and/or car washes, it does not mean they do not happen. In fact, why don't you visit Prof. Google and do some searches on "shootings", "sandwich shops" and/or "car washes". Methinks you will find interesting reading.

Thanks Adam

By anon on Mon, 09/24/2018 - 9:39am.

Thanks for reporting on this... I live nearby and was walking my dog right around the time when this happened. Cop cars were driving slowly around the neighborhood with their spotlights on looking for what I assume is the shooter, and it was a little unnerving to not know what was going on.

Also - I've been to Professional for 1 haircut in my two years living here. My instincts told me the place was sketchy as hell, and I never went back. I will continue to walk the half mile to Sal's on Centre Street.