A Massachusetts father and soon-to-be husband was fatally shot early Saturday morning near a park on Norfolk Street in Cambridge, just two blocks from his home.“He was a very caring brother; he was a very caring father,” said the sister of Xavier Bautista, Victoria Angeles. “He was just a good person, he didn’t deserve that."Bautista’s best friend said they had attended a party and stopped at McDonald’s before he dropped Bautista off at the corner of the street near his home.“We went to a party, we went to McDonald’s after, and then I dropped him off at the corner of the street,” his friend said.An hour after the shooting, a passerby discovered Bautista’s body on the ground and alerted police. Authorities said they had not received any reports of gunshots in the area.Bautista, 32, was the father of a five-year-old son and was soon to be married.“It sucks to know that anything could have made any difference, and it sucks to know that my brother was laying on the ground alone for an hour,” Angeles said.Bautista’s family and the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association are questioning whether the city’s recent removal of ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system, contributed to the delay in emergency response. The technology had been available in the area where Bautista’s body was found until the city council canceled it two months ago, citing concerns about its reliability. “Why wouldn’t we want to keep our community as safe as possible?” Cambridge Police Commissioner Pauline Wells said during a council hearing in May, defending the technology.The police association released a statement saying, “There was no opportunity for the victim to receive emergency aid for approximately 60 minutes. This is directly related to the City Council’s mandate removing ShotSpotter technology.”For Bautista’s family, the tragedy is compounded by the memory of losing a cousin to gun violence in Cambridge 12 years ago—a case that remains unsolved.“This is the second person this has happened to in my family on the same day. Our family is not letting this go,” Angeles said.Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said Bautista was an employee of the city's Public Works Department. They said in a statement that he was off-duty at the time of the shooting.The investigation is being conducted by the Cambridge Police Department, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. Cambridge is holding a community meeting at the city's senior center on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to provide an update on the investigation and provide resources to residents.Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Cambridge Police Department at 617-349-3300. Police said anonymous tips can also be submitted.

A Massachusetts father and soon-to-be husband was fatally shot early Saturday morning near a park on Norfolk Street in Cambridge, just two blocks from his home.

“He was a very caring brother; he was a very caring father,” said the sister of Xavier Bautista, Victoria Angeles. “He was just a good person, he didn’t deserve that."

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Bautista’s best friend said they had attended a party and stopped at McDonald’s before he dropped Bautista off at the corner of the street near his home.

“We went to a party, we went to McDonald’s after, and then I dropped him off at the corner of the street,” his friend said.

An hour after the shooting, a passerby discovered Bautista’s body on the ground and alerted police. Authorities said they had not received any reports of gunshots in the area.

Bautista, 32, was the father of a five-year-old son and was soon to be married.

“It sucks to know that anything could have made any difference, and it sucks to know that my brother was laying on the ground alone for an hour,” Angeles said.

Bautista’s family and the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association are questioning whether the city’s recent removal of ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system, contributed to the delay in emergency response. The technology had been available in the area where Bautista’s body was found until the city council canceled it two months ago, citing concerns about its reliability.

“Why wouldn’t we want to keep our community as safe as possible?” Cambridge Police Commissioner Pauline Wells said during a council hearing in May, defending the technology.

The police association released a statement saying, “There was no opportunity for the victim to receive emergency aid for approximately 60 minutes. This is directly related to the City Council’s mandate removing ShotSpotter technology.”

For Bautista’s family, the tragedy is compounded by the memory of losing a cousin to gun violence in Cambridge 12 years ago—a case that remains unsolved.

“This is the second person this has happened to in my family on the same day. Our family is not letting this go,” Angeles said.

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said Bautista was an employee of the city's Public Works Department. They said in a statement that he was off-duty at the time of the shooting.

The investigation is being conducted by the Cambridge Police Department, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Cambridge is holding a community meeting at the city's senior center on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to provide an update on the investigation and provide resources to residents.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Cambridge Police Department at 617-349-3300. Police said anonymous tips can also be submitted.