Four Slain In Boston Restaurant Off-Duty Officers Capture Pair In Charlestown Area Of Boston

Two gunmen shattered the lunch-hour calm of a restaurant Monday, killing four men and critically wounding a fifth before two police officers dining there gave chase and arrested the suspects at gunpoint outside.

Seized from the suspects, Damian A. Clemente, 20, and Vincent John Perez, 27, were two guns that police have declined to identify.

The victims’ names were not immediately available, pending notification of next of kin.

While the blaze of a dozen shots inside the 99 Restaurant had the makings of a mob-style killing, police released no information about a motive. Patrons interviewed by investigators said they heard harsh words exchanged between the shooters and their victims, who were seated at a booth near the glass double doors at the front of the restaurant. Officials gave no details about the nature of the argument.

“If it was a hit, it was a sloppy hit. In broad daylight, inside a crowded restaurant,” Boston Police Commissioner Paul Evans told reporters assembled in the parking lot for a twilight news conference.

Meanwhile, investigators combed the restaurant for shell casings with a fire truck ladder positioned against the roof to search for evidence.

The restaurant, part of a small chain of medium-priced eateries, is in Charlestown, a blue-collar neighborhood known to tourists for the Bunker Hill monument and nationally for violence after court-ordered busing to desegregate Boston schools. It is also famous among law officers for its strict “code of silence”: Witnesses to murder rarely come forward to help police.