A woman was killed Sunday in an apparent shooting at an apartment building in Winthrop, reportedly amid a loud argument, and another person known to her was detained in the case, police and prosecutors said.

The shooting occurred in the three-story building at 26 Beacon Street, directly across the street from the Massa Playground. Police said they were called there at 8:37 am and found the woman suffering from a gunshot wound inside the building.

The 47-year-old woman was treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital, where she died from her injuries, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office said.

Winthrop police said their officers “quickly detained” a person of interest for questioning, though neither it nor the district attorney’s office reported filing any charges by late Sunday.

Investigators, however, said they believe that the shooting was not random and that the people involved knew eachother.

Verbal argument

The Winthrop police responding to the scene were answering “multiple 911 calls reporting a disturbance” at the apartment building, the police said. “Initial reports indicated a verbal argument was taking place,” the police said.

“There is no danger to the public,” the Winthrop police said in a statement on the matter. “The investigation remains active and ongoing,” they said.

The officials did not provide the names of the victim or the person being questioned, or the nature of their relationship.

The killing was a rare event for the town of nearly 19,000 residents. The most recent previous ones occurred in 2021 when a man espousing racial hatred shot dead two black people in Winthrop – David Green, a retired Massachusetts state police officer, and Ramona Cooper, an Air Force veteran.

A summary of the 2021 sale of the property at 26 Beacon Street described it as a $3 million building of 7,440 square feet divided into 12 units.