A community is mourning after an MBTA Commuter Rail operator was shot and killed in a shooting outside of a Fenway Park bar overnight Thursday.
Keisa Jackson, a friend of 29-year-old Jephthe Chery, beloved commuter rail conductor, spoke out about his murder early Thanksgiving morning outside Fenway's "Who's on First” bar.
Jackson said, "That young man should be with his family and his mom and celebrating today and instead he's in a morgue."
Police say Chery was one of three shot outside the bar around 2 a.m., closing time at "Who's on First."
Officers on patrol heard the gunshots and responded to Yawkey Way, seeing several hundred people flee the area.
Police say Chery was an innocent bystander and was on his way to work at the time.
Jackson said her friend was always taking on overtime on the commuter rail, working his way up from a cafe employee as a teenager at South Station to a conductor.
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She also said he had a huge family, and was always positive.
She said, "He was always smiling, period, every time you saw him, no matter how many hours he worked, no matter what was going on in his life, he was always smiling."
Police Thursday morning voiced anger with what happened. Throughout the weekend Fenway is also hosting tens-of-thousands of people for high school football games.
Police Commissioner William Evans said, “Two of the victims are well known to us, whether or not they were the targets were not sure but every indication is that the victim of this had nothing to do what was playing out on the street."
Bosotn Mayor Marty Walsh said, "We have a young man that is not going to work today that was on his way to work. I know I found out today he was beloved by all his coworkers."
The two other victims in the shooting are men in their twenties and had non-life-threatening injuries..
“Who's on First” has been a problem in the past. Two women were shot outside the bar in September and they've also been cited by the city before.
Evans said, "This particular bar has been nothing but a headache over the last several years. Last month we had several young ladies injured out there by gunfire and we got to look into what's going wrong with that place.
The bar is closed Thursday night and did not return our requests for comment earlier.
Police tonight are also still looking for the suspect in the shooting.
