An 18-year-old who'd just come from her high school graduation was shot in Boston's Seaport District Thursday, Boston police said, while they looked for the person who shot her.
The teenager, who "had just recently graduated from Boston Collaborative High School," was expected to survive, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox told reporters.
The location of the shooting, at 200 Pier 4 Boulevard about 11:43 a.m., is steps away from the Institute of Contemporary Art, where witnesses said the Boston Collaborative High School graduation had taken place.
There were two crime scenes that police were investigating, Cox said. While it was still early in the investigation, he said, investigators believe the shooting happened in a garage and that it may have followed an altercation.
The teenager hasn't been publicly identified.
No arrests have been made, but Cox said the shooting wasn't believed to be a random act of violence. He and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden asked for the public's help identifying the shooter and any accomplices.
"This is a travesty. This should not happen. High school students attending a graduation on a beautiful day like today shouldn't have to have that day marked with a shooting," Hayden said, encouraging the people involved "to turn themselves in immediately."
Photos from the ground showed an area blocked off with yellow police tape in front of a furniture store, with multiple officers at the scene.
Aerial footage from the scene showed police investigators focusing their attention on a car on the side of the street.
"We saw an argument in the front near the waterfront and then, as people started to disperse, we came out and we saw people running and screaming out of the parking lot," said Camila Pagan, executive director of nonprofit Beat the Odds.
Pagan said attended the graduation in support of a student who she worked with at Beat the Odds.
Boston Collaborative High School is a collaboration between Boston Public Schools and six community organizations that serves students who need a nontraditional educational setting. The school district didn't immediately put out a statement on the shooting.
Earlier this week, the ICA announced that it would be hosting part of The Gun Violence Memorial Project starting later this summer.
