It was four years last Thursday, July 19, that police rushed to Aguadilla Street in the South End for a report of gunshots and someone who had been hit in a drive-by shooting.
That someone turned out to be Niko Nunez, 20, who died on that South End street, and this week, Boston Police and Nunez’s mother, Elsa Morales, are calling on the community for tips that could help solve the cold case.
Morales, in a video done by the Boston Police, said she believes people know who committed the crime, but won’t come forward.
“A lot of people know and it’s sad,” she said. “They don’t want to come up front and say something. It’s breaking the community and it’s not just here, but all over the place. I’m sure if it happened to one of their loved ones, they would want the same thing I want – justice…It’s going to be four years and still nothing. How would you feel if it were your child? Somebody has to have a heart, a conscience…I need justice and I need peace of mind. It’s not going to bring my son back, but at least it’s just one less bad person out there on the streets.”
Det. Josh Cummings said the call came to police around 3 a.m. on July 19, 2014, on Aguadilla Street. As he and a friend walked down that street, a black SUV, possibly a Ford Explorer, came down the street. Witnesses said someone popped up out of the sunroof, and then began shooting in Nunez’s direction.
He was fatally hit.
Det. Cummings said there are friends and people that he was speaking with seconds before the attack. Police are convinced they might know something.
“Every indication is there are a number of individuals who knew the victim quite well and potentially knew the suspects,” said Cummings. “They were there talking to him right before he got shot. When I say right before, I mean seconds before he got shot. Not an hour or earlier in the night – immediately when it happened.
“He was a neighborhood kid,” he continued. “He spent most of his time in the Villa Victoria where he grew up. He was popular. He knew a lot of people. He seemed like a good kid just trying to make his way.”
Morales said she recalls waiting 30 minutes at the hospital, only to be told there was nothing they could do – that her son had died.
“There are no words to describe how much I miss him,” she said. “I realize his babies will never know who he is…It’s tough. It’s going to be a lot harder to have to tell his kids what happened…I do remember it like it was yesterday.”
Community members with any information relative to Niko Nunez’s homicide are asked to call the Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470. Those who wish to remain anonymous can share information by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS (8477) or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identity of those who wish to remain anonymous.