BROCKTON — Outside the multifamily apartment complex where a 54-year-old man was fatally shot the evening before, passersby hurried down the sidewalk as they ducked from the rain on Saturday afternoon.
The scene had been cleared by law enforcement, leaving no sign a crime had occurred inside the modest building, where the apartment sits above a liquor store on a busy main road. There were no visible memorial.
Many details surrounding the killing remain unclear, including the name of the victim. However, the shooting “does not appear to be a random act of violence,’’ Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said. The investigation by state and local police remains ongoing.
Residents described a flurry of activity at the complex in the hours after the shooting was reported around 3:20 p.m. Most refused to give their names, including two friends wearing heavy winter coats, who said they saw about four police cars and one fire truck in the parking lot. They didn’t stick around.
For most, as puddles of rain filled the streets, it appeared to be just another day in Brockton. Still, several people said that the area seems to have attracted the attention of law enforcement more in recent years.
In 2023, there were seven homicides in Brockton, one fewer than in the previous two years, according to state data.
“This is one of the bad areas for violence,’’ said one man, who declined to give his name, standing outside Fernandez Family Market with friends. “You just mind your own business. It’s a tough city.’’
Dozens in the area, including those washing clothes at a nearby laundromat and others walking in the cold, declined to talk about what they had seen or heard. Many said they only spoke Spanish or Portuguese — not uncommon in this city of more than 105,000. One neighbor quickly closed his door. The manager of the apartment building said in a brief phone call that he did not want the incident publicized.
Kay Williams, 49, who lives in Quincy, said there have been “safety issues in the area for quite some years,’’ citing gun violence and drug activity.
“I wouldn’t live here,’’ she said of this section of Brockton. “I know that, passing through, there’s been a couple of complications, and there’s been a lot of people getting shot and run over by cars out here.’’
Between 2018 and 2022, Brockton saw 11,757 crashes, one of the highest numbers of any community in the state, according to a safety action plan published by the city in April. Pedestrian crashes are more than six times as likely to “result in a fatal or serious injury crash compared to total crashes,’’ the report said.
Williams said she felt terrible when she found out about the shooting.
“I’m sorry to hear that he lost his life,’’ she said.
Only a couple of buildings down from the apartment complex is Brockton’s Portuguese Foursquare Church, where the pastor and a handful of congregants gathered to organize boxes of Christmas toys — a penguin in a beret, a soccer ball, and colored pencils among the gifts — to give to children in need.
After the shooting, police stopped by to look at their security cameras, said Fran Debarros, 32, among the volunteers. Debarros, who lives in Hanson, said she was not shocked to learn what had happened.
“Unfortunately, it’s not the safest area,’’ she said. “We’re just going to be extra cautious.’’
Surrounded by boxes stacked to the ceiling and wrapping paper strewn about the basement, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Valdir Facioni, 70, expressed deep sadness about the violence.
“I was very worried because we have a lot of church members,’’ he said in Portuguese, with Debarros translating. “I hope it doesn’t happen again.’’
Facioni said violence has increased in this part of Brockton, which troubles him. It has become common to see police cars whizzing by as church members leave following a service, with officers apprehending people on the street outside, he said.
“We don’t understand,’’ he said. “It makes me sad — not just for us, but for the community.’’
He noted the church’s proximity to the police station, only about a three-minute drive away, and the fire station just over 100 feet away.
“Still, the violence is growing, even though there’s so much surrounding us to protect us,’’ he said.
Residents said law enforcement does what it can to address the concerns about safety.
While Facioni lives in Abington, he said Brockton is where his heart is. Still, his worries for parishioners have prompted him to put the church up for sale and consider moving outside the city. But it pains him.
“We don’t want to leave Brockton,’’ he said. “I love Brockton. I love all … the hard-working people. The jobs, the commercial places that they have here. The only problem is the violence itself.’’
Globe correspondent Talia Lissauer contributed to this report.
