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Man beaten in Downtown Crossing has died
By adamg on Tue, 03/28/2023 - 3:21pm
Boston Police report a man found lying on the ground outside 17 Winter St. in Downtown Crossing around 9 p.m. on March 17 has died, meaning that detectives are now looking for his murderers.
Barry Whelan, 46, of Woburn, was taken to a local hospital, where he was taken off life support and died on March 24, police say.
The state medical examiner "determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma and ruled it a homicide," police add.
Anybody with information can contact homicide detectives at 617-343-4470 or the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).
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Comments
Who was Barry Whelan?
I haven’t found anything online about Barry - whether he had family, why he was in Boston that evening, etc. what a terrible tragedy.
Other reports state the
Other reports state the assault occurred on St Patrick's day and the victim was near an ATM, so I have to assume he was in town for the parade and out drinking when someone mugged him.
Really sad. The city seems to be so sketchy and untrustworthy lately, between the rash of drink spiking and many more attacks and muggings.
That’s quite the assumption
That’s quite the assumption you’re making and showing your agenda. The fact is that there are very few crimes
of opportunity in Downtown Crossing and in Boston. Vast majority of violent crime is usually drug related, more specifically people trying to hustle heroin/fentanyl.
Violent crimes are actually
Violent crimes are actually down so stop.
all from Ireland
There was on online obit, might have been Boston.com, all I could glean was all his immediate relatives lived in Ireland
I was curious too
Because of the timing ,I figured that I'd wasn't a bar brawl gone wrong but someone obviously knows what happened. I really hope we get some answers.
Channel 7 does a short profile
https://whdh.com/news/a-great-guy-man-who-died-after-attack-in-downtown-...
What is this world coming to?
How could a person or group of people do this to someone?
We don't know if it's drug or alcohol related but that's still no excuse. I hope those responsible are found and serve a long sentence in prison.
People think that a gun is the only weapon that kills
I don't know what happened in this case. It seems that people think if they are just using their fists or maybe a bat or a baton,that somehow that isn't capable of causing death. If you get into a street fight, you can easily become a murderer, even if you just intended to "mix it up."
Coming to?
The world has always had stuff like this. It's terrible and makes me sick to think about but let's not act like random acts of violence like this are a recent phenomenon.
Sad Story
Beaten to death in one of Boston's sketchiest neighborhoods. I don't know which is scarier upstairs or downstairs at Downtown Crossing.
Downtown Crossing is
Downtown Crossing is dangerous in broad daylight during a work day.
When were you last there?
Curious as I work downtown and haven't had any issues of late.
Depends what street. Tremont
Depends what street. Tremont street and Washington Street from the movie theatre to the Park Street T and all the side streets there are always kind of sketch.
For starters: the Macys down
For starters: the Macys down there has had rival sets lounge around, rolling weed, and causing frequent fights in the basement. Also, St Francis House has advised volunteers to not make any phone calls around the vicinity due to snatch and runs. It’s real cute when people try to pretend there hasn’t been an uptick in crime… maybe not so much as homicides but def violent crime and theft
Source: A friend works as an advocate in the area
I agree. I really think it's
I agree. I really think it's been since Barnes and Noble left in 2006 or 2007 that it's been going downhill. I go as far as Arch St now to hit Chacarero and light a candle at Arch St Church
DTC never really recovered from the Vornado fiasco
Arrogant greedy developer left a giant hole in the ground for years, and the Menino administration never held their feet to the fire.
I agree too
When I was in DTX on Monday, some nutter homeless person was calling.. screaming.. names at people. I was called "A fat fuck. And wondering when my twins were due". Yeah I'm a big fat dude, but I didn't need that.
He also proceeded to call some lady "a fuckin whore" because she was dressed with a very short mini skirt.
Yeah spare me the mental health arguement, I don't care. As I've said here before, my sympathy goes away for these people when you do this crap. They have just become more nuttier, more brazen lately. And no more than a little over a week ago, I was in central square being nearly assaulted by some women who wanted me to give her money.
I'm real tired being begged for money no matter where I go. I was in McDonald's on 16 in Chelsea eating.. E A T I N G a few months ago . And some guy comes in and starts begging patrons for money. After I went off on him, he left and proceeded to make a bee line toward the drive up ATM at the bank next door.. to a woman in a car taking out money of the ATM. If I had not run up to him to shoo him away, he probably would have accosted her. AT THE FUCKING ATM MACHINE.
I should also add this is the SECOND time I've been at this McD and had this happen.
Yup not DTX, but I'll bring it back. Ever walk out the Winter Street Exit near the Church and the BoA ATM Machine at Park Street. Yeah. I don't feel safe walking out that exit anymore. There's always someone now shooting up at the top, or a group of kids all smoking weed in front of the ATM. That area is LITTERED with trash and bottles. This is where lots of people hang out. This is also where that person got stabbed a few months ago.
And for that real 1976 Times Square feel, saw some kids play the dice game over by the Millenium. All we need is some more neon and a dancing cowboy and we'll feel like it is Times Square, 1976. Yes it's that bad.
I've lived here for 25 years now, and I have never felt this unsafe in that neighborhood than I ever have been... IN THE DAYTIME.
Of course, there's never a cop around when you need one. I tried to find one on monday after being called a fat fuck.. Not one to be found. I gave up and finished my errands and went home.
Umm
What did you want the cops to do to the stranger who swore at you? Shoot him?
If being yelled at and sworn at means you're in danger
then I guess I've never been in more danger in my life then when I dared wear a jersey for another team to a Bruins game.
eighties
The last time I felt "safe" there - meaning the last time I didn't give a thought to whether I was "safe" or not- was the eighties. It felt like a community of people. Community of shoppers, community of buskers, community of food trucks and tables. Now it's just shadows. With sketchy people lurking in them.
DTX is a mess
Someone was stabbed there today.
Downtown Crossing is exactly
Downtown Crossing is exactly where all the transit in Boston converges, y'all are not doing hard work intellectually to identify it as a place in which it's difficult to protect and control people.
Tens of thousands of people move through downtown daily, it's not the Blue Bottle in Harvard Square.
Having said that it's manageable geographically I don't get why it is not just swarming in cops (which it now will be for a time).
On the golden age of DTX
"Downtown Crossing is exactly where all the transit in Boston converges, y'all are not doing hard work intellectually to identify it as a place in which it's difficult to protect and control people."
Oh, really? Ask any native Bostonian, myself included, what it was like at DTX in the 60s, 70s...it was a gem of a shopping area with Jordan Marsh, Filene's, Bailey's (ice cream sundaes!), Discount Records, and so much more. Me, being a child of the 60s & early 70s, I loved the head shops, like Miles on Winter Street. It was also a destination shopping area for tourists and out of towners. How come it wasn't so"difficult to protect and control people" then? Granted, it first started to go downhill in the 80s when all urban "downtowns" and "main streets" started losing out to shopping malls (themselves now a relic of a bygone era), but a serious paradigm shift has taken place, DTX is a hideous wasteland, and a dangerous one at that, and I'm still trying to figure out all the causes.
It's also a (the?) center of Boston tourism.
I mean, the Visitor Center is right there. If public safety and decency aren't enough of reason to clean up the area, how about pure economics and public relations?
the police aren't allowed to do their jobs
to protect the rights of the dysfunctional members of society, so the functional members have to deal with the consequences. I advise my daughters to stay away from DTC, and when I have to go there, I carry pepper spray, which is legal in Massachusetts if the carrier is over 18.