Four killed in Boston shooting

US investigators are today searching for suspects in one of the city’s bloodiest crimes in recent memory after four men were fatally shot in a basement that neighbours said had been set up as a music studio.

The dead were in their late teens and early 20s, authorities said.

Three men were found dead at the house and the fourth died at a hospital, Police Superintendent Bobbie Johnson said.

Johnson said witnesses told police they saw a heavyset person fleeing the scene last night. No arrest had been made.

Police said the people involved appeared to know each other, but Johnson would not comment further on any possible suspects.

The killings happened in a neighbourhood that had been considered relatively safe, as Boston struggles with a spiralling murder rate.

Late last month, the city recorded its 66th homicide this year, surpassing the total for all of last year.

Yesterday’s killings were among the worst in Boston’s recent history.

In 1995, four people were gunned down at a crowded restaurant in the city’s Charlestown neighbourhood.

In 1991, five men were shot execution-style in a social club in the city’s Chinatown.

US Attorney Michael Sullivan said last week that his office will increase federal prosecutions of suspects involved in gun and gang violence in Boston.