and beer were crowded among the candles.

Another weekend and another shooting, this one leading to the ninth homicide of the year in the capital city. Over the past month there has been an explosion of gun violence and bloodshed in different neighborhoods, some less than a mile or two from the much-celebrated downtown Providence Renaissance.
In terms of violence, the Providence police say August has been the worst month in at least five years.

A review of the gunfire by The Providence Journal reveals that since Aug. 1, there have been at least 26 shootings in the city that have been reported to the police. During that span, 20 people have been shot and 2 people, including Lucky Rodriguez, have been killed. The police have yet to make an arrest in the latest homicide.
The total number of shootings for August has accounted for more than half of the shootings in the city this year. In the previous seven months, 19 shootings were reported to the police.

“It kind of reminds me of 30 years ago, when there were a lot of mob shootings,” said City Council President Peter Mancini. “I haven’t had any formal meetings with the council or the police, but the whole council is concerned about these shootings.”
Mancini, who serves on the police advisory board, vowed to raise the subject at its next meeting, in Police Chief Dean Esserman’s conference room on Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8:30 a.m.

Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy said he hopes August was an “aberration.” Still, the department is not sitting on its hands hoping for a reduction. He said the police have redirected officers and resources to hot spots in the city that have seen a significant uptick in shootings. The department has also tapped officers from the gun squad, narcotics and gang unit to help quell the violence.

Among the problem areas are Asian enclaves in the city’s south and west sides, Smith Hill and Mount Hope on the city’s East Side.

“We really believe that cops count,” Kennedy said. “We try to put more cops out there.”

He said that many of the shootings can be attributed to long-simmering feuds between rival gangs, the recent release of violent felons from prison and drug-related disputes.

“These are not random acts,” he said.

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE to study the shootings and come up with a definitive reason for the violence. But almost all of them involved young men and many of them involved drugs.

Maj. Stephen M. Campbell, who oversees the detective division, said the police crackdown has yielded results. He pointed out that the police have arrested eight people with guns in the past two weeks. A felon in possession of a gun faces an automatic five years in federal prison.

The police say the month’s other murder, on Aug. 15, was a drug deal gone bad.

The police say that Marc Quintal drove David Rocha and two other men from Fall River to South Providence to buy drugs.

They said that David Mello, using a cell phone, directed Quintal to a driveway outside a house at Pearl and Hayward streets. Once there, Mello and Sylvester Moses, both 20, of Providence, approached the car with drawn handguns.

About 6:40 p.m., gunfire erupted and Quintal, 20, was fatally shot in the back. Mello was arrested last week and charged with murder, first-degree robbery and using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.

Moses turned himself in yesterday morning and has been charged with murder, according to the Providence police.

The police have not said which of the suspects is believed to have fired the shot that killed Quintal.

McCann Place, a cluster of subsidized, low-income housing in the Mount Hope neighborhood, also has seen its share of violence in recent weeks. Specifically, a peeling drab gray unit with red trim at 61 Pleasant St.

On Aug. 1, Kevelin Davis, 29, was riddled with gunfire outside the apartment. He suffered four bullet wounds to the back and one to the right arm. He told the police that he was on the front steps of 61 Pleasant St. at 12:50 a.m. when a gold-colored car occupied by two men wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts pulled up. They opened fire and sped off.

Davis was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, and survived the shooting. At the hospital, a health-care worker discovered a plastic bag containing crack cocaine stuffed up Davis’ buttocks. He was arrested and charged with a drug violation.

On July 22, Justin T. Potter, 26, of East Providence, was grazed in the head by a bullet as he was hanging outside the same apartment on Pleasant Street.

The neighborhood, described as a trouble spot for decades, is just a few hundred yards from Hope High School and less than a mile from Thayer Street and Brown University.

A 24-hour period that began early on Aug. 12 was a particularly bad stretch. On Aug. 12, at 2:21 a.m., two cousins, Sophon Meas, 17, and Kan Hosp Bou, 20, were shot in front of Bou’s house at 24 Bernon St. in Smith Hill. A 17-year-old witness who accompanied the wounded men to the hospital told the police that he was a member of the Tiny Rascals, an Asian gang.

Meas was shot in the left hip, while Bou was hit in the shoulder and upper chest area.

Six minutes later, Keivan DeLeon, 21, and Jose L. Garcia, 18, were both shot outside 126 Julian St., in Olneyville, after an apparent altercation. DeLeon suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg; Garcia was hit in the buttocks and knee.

On Aug. 13, at 1:15 a.m., three Asian men were ambushed and shot during a backyard party at 168 Waverly St., in the West End, a known hangout of the Dark Side Asian gang. The unidentified gunman fired five or six shots from behind thick shrubbery at 179 Althea St. A young man wearing a red bandana was seen running from the area.
Thompson Eang, 16, was shot in the thigh; Sophea Hem, 19, was hit in the leg and arm; and Sareivouth Cheam, 18, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

JOHN J. LOMBARDI, a city councilman from the Federal Hill neighborhood, said that many people do not feel safe, and he said he talks with elderly residents who are afraid to leave their homes after 4:30 p.m.

He said he recently met with a constituent off Broadway when several loud cracks that sounded like gunshots echoed outside her home. “She didn’t even flinch,” he said.

Kennedy, the deputy police chief, said the police will continue to tap every means possible to attack the sudden escalation of violence in the city. He said the Providence police are working with the state police and FBI.

Still, career criminals such as Lucky Rodriguez will always find their way onto the police blotter or a gurney at the state medical examiner’s office. The police say that the gang member survived a shooting four years ago and had spent time in prison.

Kennedy said that Rodriguez, murdered at 33, chose a lifestyle that placed him directly in harm’s way, but that doesn’t mean that law-abiding citizens or downtown visitors should live in fear.

The city’s Board of Licenses also has gotten involved. At the request of the police, the board temporarily shut down El Tiburon, a known Latin Kings hangout where Rodriguez spent the final moments of his life. The board is moving to permanently close the bar.

“Providence is still an extremely safe city,” Kennedy said. “We are an urban city and with that comes a certain level of crime. You have to realize that in this business you do have upticks in violence.”
bmalinow@projo.com