2 RI Men Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murdering Teen

Woonsocket RI

12 May, 2022

11:18 AM

Description

WOONSOCKET, RI — Two Woonsocket men were sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing a teen in a 2019 shooting, the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office said Wednesday. Quinton St. Pierre, 20, and Craig Robinson, 20, both admitted to killing Nyasia Williams-Thomas, 17. The shooting happened on Dec. 4, 2019, when both men shot-and-killed Williams-Thomas on Village Road in Woonsocket. Earlier that evening, Robinson, St. Pierre, and co-defendant Jose Ortiz Martinez, while gathered at a home on Bennett Street, made a plan to retaliate against someone who had offended Robinson in a series of text messages, prosecutors said. Equipped with guns and masks, the men searched for the person who they believed to be near Village Road. The men then found a vehicle they believe had their target inside, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the men surprised three occupants inside the car from the back by banging on the vehicle and then opening the passenger-side. Robinson and St. Pierre shot into the car before running away. Martinez did not have a gun during the incident, prosecutors said. During the shooting, Williams-Thomas was struck in the chest by a bullet and later succumbed to her injuries. She was not the intended target. Woonsocket police officers tracked down the men to a home on Bennett Street and, after a brief standoff, took them into custody. Detectives later recovered a .32 caliber revolver and ammunition the men tried to hide. On July 1, 2021, Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. He was sentenced on Oct. 8, 2021, to 10 years with four years to serve and a six-year suspended sentence with 10 years of probation.