Photo courtesy of Arminda BaptistaThree years ago, on September 5, 2017, Alberto “AJ” Monteiro was killed while getting a haircut just one mile away from his home in our neighborhood, Dorchester, Massachusetts.
At the time of his death, AJ was 21 years old, majoring in Business Management at Regis College. He went to St. John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester and to Catholic Memorial High School in Roxbury. He was a football athlete since the age of 6 as running back and tight end for the Dorchester Eagles Pop Warner Team, and after that, with the Catholic Memorial Knights.
AJ’s death is, sadly, part of the statistics of unsolved murder cases in Boston.
In 2018, Arminda Baptista, AJ’s beloved mother, created the AJ Community Flag Football Games to promote peace and unity in the neighborhood.
On Sunday, August 23, 2020, family and community members at Dorchester’s Roberts Park celebrated the third annual AJ Community Flag Football Games in the same spirit but with the limitations derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Thank you all for being there and supporting us always. Despite COVID & the rain, we made it happen, and everything was perfect,” Mrs. Baptista expressed after the event in a public statement.
Long Live AJ
Additionally to the AJ Community Flag Football Games, Mrs. Baptista partnered with Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy to launch the AJ Monteiro Memorial Scholarship Fund, to support the education of Dorchester residents in low income.
Related:
Meet Arminda Baptista: Dorchester mother and founder of the AJ’s Flag Football Games
