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Man shot to death outside barbers
Patrons said son was with victim
By Miguel Otárola
Globe Correspondent

Hanif Abrahim was managing Ali’s Roti Restaurant in Mattapan on Tuesday afternoon when customers at Hair It Is Barbershop next door barged inside and urged him to call 911.

They told him one of the customers, who was there with his young son, had been shot at least three times and was in the back parking lot, about 15 feet from the barbershop’s back door.

“It happened so fast,’’ Abrahim recalled. “Boom, boom, boom, and then ran off.’’

By the time Boston police showed up to the Blue Hill Avenue barbershop about 12:30 p.m., the man was dead, said police Superintendent-in-Chief William J. Gross.

Police declared the shooting an active homicide investigation and were searching the neighborhood for a suspect, Gross said Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said they believe the crime was targeted and the victim, who was not identified, and suspect knew each other.

“It does not appear at this point to be a random act of violence,’’ Gross said.

He said the victim was 28 to 30 years old.

Barbershop patrons told Abrahim the victim had taken his son there to get a haircut and the son was inside the shop when the shooting occurred.

Abrahim briefly saw the man lying motionless on his side. He said he saw blood around his head and neck, his cellphone on the ground beside him.

Roughly four hours after the Mattapan attack, another man was shot in Dorchester, near Dorchester Avenue and Gallivan Boulevard, police said.

That man was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday evening, said police spokesman David Estrada. The man’s age was not available.

No arrests were reported in either case, and Estrada said there was no word on whether the two shootings may be connected.

Neighbors behind Hair It Is and employees at restaurants next door said they didn’t hear gunshots. Sebastian Casas, who works at Joseph’s Pizzeria on the same strip, said shootings happen in the area every year.

The barbershop is across from the Boston Police Department’s District B-3 station and a couple of blocks east of Morning Star Baptist Church.

The barbershop and back parking lot were closed off Tuesday as police investigated.

The death marks the 14th homicide in Boston this year, compared with 13 at the same time last year, according to police.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent J.D. Capelouto contributed to this report. Miguel Otárola can be reached at miguel.otarola@globe.com.