Ramone Daley left his Dorchester home before dawn Saturday to catch a bus, the first leg of the commute to his job at Logan International Airport.

Moments later, his mother, Ruth, said, she heard gunshots and called her son's cellphone.

" 'Are you OK?' I asked him,'' she said. "He said 'No, Mommy. I'm not OK.' ''

The 22-year-old had been shot by an unknown assailant, just steps from the Floyd Street apartment where he lived with his mother and his father, Raymond, she said. Daley, who sustained several gunshot wounds about 4 a.m., was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he died Saturday afternoon, according to Boston police.

In her living room yesterday, Ruth Daley, 57, a minister, said she had no idea why her son had been shot.

"This is a senseless crime,'' she said. "Our son did not offend anybody. He did not have qualms with anybody. He didn't get involved with gangs or drugs.''

Ruth Daley said Ramone worked as a grounds operator for Jet Blue at Logan.

"Not many people his age start work at 5:30 in the morning,'' she said. "He was a very hard worker.''

The homicide was one of two in Boston over the weekend. Yesterday, an Allston man was charged in connection with the death of a 23-year-old Roxbury man after five people were stabbed at the intersection of Harvard and Brighton avenues in the early morning, police said.

The death of the Roxbury man marked the eighth homicide in Boston this year, compared with five at the same time last year.

In Dorchester yesterday afternoon, near the site where Ramone Daley had been shot, a group of 20 congregants from nearby Greater Love Tabernacle Church gathered to offer their support to his family and to make a statement on violence in Boston.

"We're not going to act as if any murders are commonplace,'' Pastor William E. Dickerson II said. "We all ought to be concerned, and we want the community to know that we will not accept random violence like this.''

The group of men sung hymns as they walked from Blue Hill Avenue to the Daley residence, where some of them spoke words of support to the grieving family.

Trevor Tyrell, 22, of Dorchester, a friend of Daley's, walked with the men from Greater Love Tabernacle.

Tyrell grew up with Daley, going to the same school and same church, Deeper Life Bible Church. "He was like a brother to me,'' he said. "He wasn't the type of person to be involved with gangs or anything. He was an honest guy trying to make an honest living.''

As she stood with family members in the home yesterday, Ruth Daley said her son had attended Lexington High School and Noonan Business Academy in Dorchester, which has since merged with another school. He spent his free time at home, playing video games, she said.

"He loved to smile,'' Rasheed Daley, 28, said of his brother. "He was always a kid at heart.''

Ruth and Raymond Daley cofounded a Christian ministry, Hope for the Hopeless, in 2001. Ruth Daley also was the pastor of a church on Blue Hill Avenue for 18 years.

Police had made no arrests as of yesterday evening, police spokesman Joe Zanoli said.

In the Allston case, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said Mitchell Martinez, 23, of Allston, was charged with murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest, and other charges connected with the fatal stabbing, which happened around 1:45 a.m.

The victims, who were not identified, were taken to several area hospitals. One died yesterday at Brigham and Women's Hospital and another had life-threatening injuries.

In November, a 24-year-old man was killed outside a convenience store at the same intersection of Brighton and Harvard avenues.

Early afternoon yesterday, the corner, home to a handful of convenience stores, markets, restaurants, and a liquor store, was quiet and most employees at nearby businesses seemed unfazed by the violence.

Metin Gunduz, who works at Rednecks Roast Beef on Brighton Avenue, said that aside from general rowdiness on Friday and Saturday nights, he doesn't consider the area to be particularly dangerous. "Late at night, our customers are drunk people, and they don't really care'' about the violence, he said.