A brazen daylight shooting that cut down a young man near a Dorchester elementary school yesterday morning forced police to put the building in “safe mode” and keep an eye on frightened voters as they showed up to cast ballots in Boston’s municipal election.

“It’s terrible,” voter Katherine Crawford said at the John Marshall Elementary School on Westville Street. “You should be able to go and vote without being afraid.”

A Boston police spokeswoman confirmed the 23-year-old man, whose name was not released, died shortly after he was shot at 11:56 a.m. at Westville and Bowdoin streets.

“No one wants to talk now,” said a man who identified himself as a relative. “We just lost a loved one.”

The shooting did not stop classes at the school, which serves about 650 students, and had no discernible impact on voting.

BPD spokesman Officer Joe Zanoli said police were looking for a black male, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and is wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a baseball cap. He was last seen fleeing toward Greenbrier Street, Zanoli said.

Wynter Brown, 29, of Dorchester said the violent outburst did not prevent him from voting for mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty Jr. and Tito Jackson for councilor at large.

Brown liked Jackson’s idea to give Hub colleges and universities a tax break if their students mentor inner-city youth. “If we got more kids being mentored by the best and brighest while they’re still in the state,” said Brown, “maybe this wouldn’t happen.”