‘My miracle child:' Family remembers victim of double murder in Dorchester.

Boston Globe

3 days ago

Growing up, Wilkins had 'bad asthma,' which forced him to go to the hospital many times, Wilkins said. But it did not slow him down.
'He was the two-pound baby, but he was a normal kid, just like everybody else,' Wilkins said. 'The only difference about Walter — he just had asthma. He could do anything anybody else could do.'
On May 24, Walter Wilkins was killed in a
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Shortly before 10 p.m., officers responding to a reported shooting on Franklin Hill Avenue found Wilkins and Anthony McIntosh, 66, of Dorchester, shot multiple times, according to a police report.
Wilkins was rushed to the hospital but died that night, police said. McIntosh died after spending four days in critical condition.
On Sunday, police
No arrests had been made as of Tuesday morning, police said.
The family does not know who shot Wilkins, and his mother said she is desperate for answers.
'They took my son's life,' Wilkins said, her voice breaking with emotion. 'I will never see my son again, never. I gotta live with this for the rest of my life.'
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Jakoya Wilkins, Wilkins' older sister by nine months, said she hopes there is 'justice' for her brother's death. He was 'not that type of person' to be involved in violence, she said.
'We grew up in a certain neighborhood, and that's fine, but at the end of the day, I just feel like, my brother didn't deserve that,' she said. 'I hope that whatever justice needs to be served is served and the people behind this will get caught,'
Greg Simpson, a second cousin, said Wilkins was easygoing and well-liked and he couldn't imagine who would want to take his life.
'I would never in a million years think Walter,' Simpson said. 'Walt was only 36 years old, you know, had really a lot of life to live.'
Wilkins had moved on from past struggles, Simpson said, and was 'getting his life together.'
'Everyone goes through something in life,' Simpson said. 'Everyone has a story.'
The family has lived in Quincy for about 13 years, Michelle Wilkins said, after moving from Jamaica Plain. Wilkins had two sons, who are 17 and 20 years old, she said.
Walter Wilkins' family remembers him as a "kind" person.
Greg Simpson
When he was young,
'My son had a beautiful smile,' she said.
Jakoya Wilkins said she will never forget her brother's smile.
'Oh, I'm going to miss his smile,' Jakoya said. 'His smile, for sure.'
Wilkins loved animals and had a pet Chihuahua named 'Chi Chi,' his mother said.
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He was close with his five siblings and had a rare ability to build relationships with people.
'Everybody loved him,' his mother said. 'Everybody loved him.'
At family cookouts, Wilkins was usually
at the grill cooking up anything from hot dogs and chicken to steak and pork chops, his mother said with a laugh.
'He just loved to cook,' she said.
Wilkins was handy with tools and spent time working on homes for a landlord in Quincy, where he lived with his mother and another sister. Jakoya said he was often working on a project or a home for the landlord.
Besides work, Wilkins enjoyed spending time with his nieces and nephews, his mother said.
'He was the best uncle that any kid or person could have,' said Roosevelt Wilkins, Wilkins' uncle.
Wilkins was a kind man
with 'great integrity,' he said.
'He's truly missed,' Roosevelt said. 'There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thinking about him right now.'
As he took a walk on Monday morning, Roosevelt Wilkins looked to the sky 'wondering what [Walt's] doing at this moment,' he said.
'I'm just speechless at the moment,' he said. 'He was all around a good person, and there's no person that I came across or even sat in front of that had any bad words to say about him.'
The last thing Michelle said to her son was, 'Walt, be safe,' as he drove his moped into Boston on May 24.
He said 'OK, Mommy, I'll be back home later,' she recalled.
'And that was my final word,' she said. 'It hurts. It hurts.'
Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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Ava Berger can be reached at