Providence Hit With Wave of Violence and Nearly All Alleged Perpetrators Are Juveniles
GoLocalProv News Team
Providence Hit With Wave of Violence and Nearly All Alleged Perpetrators Are Juveniles
The violence has hit neighborhoods across the city and includes two of Providence’s most important tourism destinations — Providence Place Mall and Waterplace Park.
The common thread is that the alleged perpetrators are juveniles.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"It's concerning," said Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements of the recent juvenile crimes. "It's something we’ve seen and discussed in conversations with colleagues regionally and nationally. But yes, we’ve seen an uptick in a more granular way in the last year and a half to two years."
"Because we're an urban area, and we have the mall, we have youth crime and disturbing issues with men and women not just from the city but the whole state. They end up at the mall or RIPTA. So we end up inheriting that too," he added.
On Sunday afternoon, a 72-year-old woman was reportedly robbed by three juvenile males wearing facemasks while she was walking on Acorn Street on Federal Hill.
A witness to the crime attempted to chase one of the suspects who fled the scene on foot.
A man was stabbed outside a convenience store early Sunday morning.
Witnesses say he was attacked by nearly a dozen juveniles after he reportedly came to the defense of two women the group had been harassing.
Police had been called to the 7-Eleven at 460 Smith Street shortly after midnight for the criminal report.
Upon arrival, police said they encountered a man bleeding heavily from his back. The victim was taken to Rhode Island Hospital by rescue and unable to speak with police on the scene. One witness told police he saw approximately ten juveniles on top of the victim outside of the 7-Eleven; he said the group dispersed when he had run over to help.
A second witness told police he had been walking by earlier and the group had thrown rocks at him. He said when he confronted the group, one juvenile male brandished a pocket knife at him.
Another witness — a female — told police she had been walking with a friend to the 7-Eleven when the group began harassing them. According to the woman, the male victim had tried to defend the women when the group attacked him and he was stabbed.
A Providence middle school was placed on lockdown Friday afternoon after construction workers’ tools were reportedly stolen.
According to police, Roger Williams Middle School was placed on lockdown shortly before 2 PM.
Police say workers at the school reported that their tools — including knives — had been stolen. Upon searching school grounds, police said knives — and tools — were recovered, and two students were brought in for questioning.
On Wednesday, four juveniles were reportedly involved in setting a van on fire at the West End Community Center.
As GoLocal reported:
Police were alerted shortly after 1 PM on Wednesday that a van had been set on fire by four juveniles at the West End Community Center on Bucklin Street.
According to witnesses, the juveniles were seen inside the van by rec center staff and ordered to get out, at which time a fire erupted and the van was engulfed in flames.
A man was stabbed at Waterplace Park in downtown Providence Wednesday night. The victim was reported to be in critical condition — and police said they had a juvenile suspect in custody.
Shortly after 9:30 PM on Wednesday, police responded to 100 Exchange Street for a report of a stabbing. Police said they located the victim under a Waterplace Park bridge with multiple stab wounds to his neck and torso. According to police, witnesses who saw the stabbing provided a description of the suspect.
Police say they were able to locate a person matching the description a short time later on Memorial Boulevard. The suspect — a juvenile —was taken into custody. The victim was in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital.
Students at Classical High School say they were hit by someone firing a pellet gun from a vehicle on Friday.
Providence Police were already investigating multiple reports of assaults with BB guns over the priot weekend — and whether they might be linked to a new TikTok challenge.
A Classical High School administrator told police Monday morning that two students reported that they were struck by a pellet gun on Friday afternoon shortly after 2:30 PM.
As GoLocal reported, victims were shot Saturday night and early Sunday morning in the West End, outside Providence Place Mall, and on College Hill — and that a “dark, older model Toyota sedan” was involved. Witnesses to the Classical High School shooting on Friday said the shots came from a small, grey compact car.
The students said they were struck in the chest and arm areas before the vehicle fled.
Police later arrested a juvenile related to at least several of the reported incidents.
A man leaving Providence Place Mall Friday night told police he was jumped by a half dozen teenage boys. He suffered minor injuries and said he had his cell phone stolen.
Shortly after 9:30 a week ago Friday night, police were called to the Amtrak Train Station for a report of a robbery.
They met with the victim, a 26-year-old male, who said he had been robbed leaving Providence Place Mall.
According to police, the victim said he had started walking down One Finance Way across the street from the mall when approximately 5-6 teenage boys been the ages of 12 and 16 approached him and “jumped” him. The victim said in the assault he dropped his phone valued at $200 which said one of the juveniles stole before the group fled the scene. Police reported that the victim suffered minor injuries including swelling to the face.
Trends Overall
Clements said that overall, crime statistics have been down in other categories.
"We continued to do a good job with the gang-related crimes," said Clements. "And that's not the case in all cities currently."
As for juvenile crimes, however, Clements said there are "deep-rooted" issues that need to be looked at.
"We need to look at the mental health approach and problems within families — there are deep-rooted issues with anger," said Clements.
"Crime in general, if you look at the numbers of say, robberies in the 1980s and 90s, we’d have 800 a year, and now it’s about 400," said Clements. "But we’re a city. Where you have a large congregation of certain demographics — you have issues."