Hit-and-Run Motorist Kills Pedestrian Near Encore Casino

A hit-and-run motorist killed a pedestrian late Thursday night on Alford Street near the Encore Casino, according to the Boston Police Department.

Police were called to the scene at 99 Alford Street, an address located on the north side of the Mystic River near the Everett line, at 11:22 p.m. Thursday night. A male victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Friday, Boston Police released images of a suspect’s motor vehicle: a white Ford F-150 pickup truck with plywood fencing around its truck bed. The vehicle was last seen in the rotary at Broadway and Main Street in Everett, and “may possible have damage to the front driver’s side bumper, grill, and headlight assembly,” according to police.

Alford Street is a four-lane roadway that extends from Sullivan Square over the Mystic River into the City of Everett, where it continues as Broadway.

The City of Boston’s “Vision Zero” crash map only records a handful of crashes on Alford Street since 2016, including two crashes that involved bicyclists in 2018, and one crash that involved a pedestrian near the Ryan Playground in October 2017.

Those statistics may have less to do with the street’s design than the fact that, until recently, bikes and pedestrians had few reasons to travel on Alford Street, which traverses the industrial Mystic River waterfront north of Sullivan Square.

That changed with the June opening of the Encore Casino, which is now attracting thousands of daily visitors and employees to the area. Alford Street is the most direct link between the casino and the nearest MBTA subway stop, at Sullivan Square.

Thursday’s crash is under active investigation and police are searching for a suspect. Potential witnesses are being urged to contact the city’s homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470.