Sixteen-year old Jonathan Dos Santos was killed last month while riding his bike in Dorchester. Police say two other teens shot the popular basketball player, after they ambushed him.

The pair were in court today for a probable cause hearing. Both are charged with murder.

 

More than a month later and the community is still grieving WGBH's Tina Martin ( @TinaAroundTown) spoke to people who knew Jonathan best, on what they are doing to prevent this from happening again.

16 year old Rasean Watkins plays ball during the day with his friends but is still afraid to ride his bike in his Dorchester neighborhood, and doesn't anymore, after his friend and teammate Jonathan Dos Santos was shot and killed while riding his.

 

"Me and Jonathan played for the same AAU team, we both played for the Boston Tigers and it was a real struggle for Boston Tigers knowing that he was a fellow player for the team," said Watkins.

"I definitely worry about being on a bike in a dangerous area. It's dangerous and people can mistake you for a gang member."

Police say 14 year old Raeshawn Moody and 16 year old Dushawn Taylor-Gennis shot and killed Jonathan. Rasean says what happened to his friend is a grim reality.

"It definitely made me think of how dangerous it is in the street and how dangerous it is. Especially here in the Dorchester area," said Watkins.

Here in the Dorchester community where Jonathan Dos Santos was killed about a month ago, they're not forgetting about him. We spent some time with his former coach Parris Cherry who says now he’s just trying to get his kids off the street.

"The sad reality is every moment that a kid is on the street is an opportunity for something bad to happen so we don’t wanna be reactionary. We want to be proactive and make sure we keep the kids we're working with safe as much as possible and having a van is a huge way to do that," said Cherry.

 

 

 

Jonathan told his coach he didn't feel safe walking in the street and always wanted a ride home, so Cherry has applied for an emergency grant to get a van to drop his players off after games.

Cherry says Jonathan told him he was being pressure to join a gang, both in person and on Facebook. Cherry says he now takes social media threats much more seriously.

"Immediately reach out to law enforcement and let them know what's going on," said Cherry.

Boston Police say they take social media threats seriously too but they need to be reported in order for them to investigate.

Watkins says he watches what he posts on facebook even more.  "I don’t announce myself on where I'm at. I'll write statuses on life but not where I'm at or what I'm doing at the moment."

Cherry has extended his basketball camp hours to give players a safe place to go, but says more needs to be done aside from monitoring Facebook and getting transportation. He wants kids who may be in danger to be moved out of the city if possible. 

Watkins has become much more aware of his surroundings. "I go home early, earlier than I normally do. I stay away from dangerous areas." 

Simple or common sense precautions that could prove life saving.