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Rhode Island news
8.9.2000
Accused gunman had assault conviction
David Fontanez, who allegedly shot four people Sunday at a Puerto Rican festival in Providence, had been on probation for waving a knife at a girlfriend in Roxbury, Mass., last year.
By KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer
One cool night last September, a man named David Fontanez arrived outside the apartment window of his former girlfriend in Roxbury, Mass., and picked a fight.
He screamed at the woman, the police say, threw jewelry in her face, waved a knife "in a threatening manner" and called her "a whore."
"Come on outside!" Fontanez yelled, then screamed some more.
Instead, the woman slammed the window and told her daughter to call the police. Fontanez fled; the police caught up with him and booked him for assault with a dangerous weapon. The 37-year-old Roslindale man pleaded guilty.
The police say the David Fontanez who threatened his ex-girlfriend with a knife last year in Roxbury is the same man who opened fire in a crowd of about 2,500 gathered at Sunday's Puerto Rican festival in Providence.
At the time, Fontanez was on probation for the assault conviction in Massachusetts, for which he had been given a six-month suspended sentence.
This time, the police say, Fontanez was aiming his weapon at Luis Colon, 39, the former husband of Fontanez's current girlfriend, Luz Z. Vega.
Fontanez missed Colon at first, according to the police, and instead struck three bystanders, including a 13-year-old boy.
Then, the police say, Fontanez chased Colon through a panicked crowd, and shot him in the chest.
As frightened parents grabbed children's hands and scrambled for cover, an unidentified man tackled Fontanez, then left with him as they walked out through the edge of the crowd.
The incident was captured on film by Journal photographer Rachel Ritchie.
According to Providence police Maj. Martin F. Hames, the unidentified man depicted in Ritchie's photographs likely "did everyone a favor" by preventing the gunman from continuing to fire.
(That same man appeared in Associated Press photographs of Fontanez's arraignment Monday in Roxbury District Court).
Last night, Colon remained at Rhode Island Hospital in satisfactory condition. The three wounded bystanders were treated and released on Sunday.
The details of Fontanez's prior assault case are penned in a police report on file in Roxbury District Court.
The details of Fontanez's surrender Sunday night for the shooting at the Puerto Rican festival hours earlier, are contained in a Boston police report.
That report was released yesterday by Major Hames, who noted that Fontanez's girlfriend "was instrumental in helping him surrender."
It was 11:30 Sunday night, the report states, when Fontanez arrived at the front desk of Boston's District B2 station house, wearing shorts and sneakers.
With Fontanez were his girlfriend, Vega, and the friend, Martin Rodriguez of Roxbury, who said Fontanez wanted to turn himself in "for the Providence thing."
Interpreting for Fontanez, Rodriguez handed a brown plastic bag to Patrolman Daniel E. Dwyer and stated, "There is a gun in the bag." Dwyer took the bag and locked it in a gun locker on the wall.
The gun, a black .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver with a brown handle, contained five live rounds of ammunition. The gun "has paint over the serial numbers," according to the report.
Inside the station, the police read Fontanez his Miranda rights in Spanish, the report states, then interviewed him relative to events in Providence earlier in the day.
That night, they announced his arrest.
On Monday morning, Fontanez pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and being a fugitive from justice.
The fugitive charge stems from a warrant Providence authorities have drawn up that charges Fontanez with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, relative to the shooting at the Puerto Rican festival.
The next step, according to Major Hames, is that Fontanez "will have a hearing to determine his probation status," on Aug. 23 in Massachusetts.
At some point thereafter, Hames said, Fontanez will likely be extradited to Rhode Island to face charges here.
Accused gunman had assault conviction
David Fontanez, who allegedly shot four people Sunday at a Puerto Rican festival in Providence, had been on probation for waving a knife at a girlfriend in Roxbury, Mass., last year.
By KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer
One cool night last September, a man named David Fontanez arrived outside the apartment window of his former girlfriend in Roxbury, Mass., and picked a fight.
He screamed at the woman, the police say, threw jewelry in her face, waved a knife "in a threatening manner" and called her "a whore."
"Come on outside!" Fontanez yelled, then screamed some more.
Instead, the woman slammed the window and told her daughter to call the police. Fontanez fled; the police caught up with him and booked him for assault with a dangerous weapon. The 37-year-old Roslindale man pleaded guilty.
The police say the David Fontanez who threatened his ex-girlfriend with a knife last year in Roxbury is the same man who opened fire in a crowd of about 2,500 gathered at Sunday's Puerto Rican festival in Providence.
At the time, Fontanez was on probation for the assault conviction in Massachusetts, for which he had been given a six-month suspended sentence.
This time, the police say, Fontanez was aiming his weapon at Luis Colon, 39, the former husband of Fontanez's current girlfriend, Luz Z. Vega.
Fontanez missed Colon at first, according to the police, and instead struck three bystanders, including a 13-year-old boy.
Then, the police say, Fontanez chased Colon through a panicked crowd, and shot him in the chest.
As frightened parents grabbed children's hands and scrambled for cover, an unidentified man tackled Fontanez, then left with him as they walked out through the edge of the crowd.
The incident was captured on film by Journal photographer Rachel Ritchie.
According to Providence police Maj. Martin F. Hames, the unidentified man depicted in Ritchie's photographs likely "did everyone a favor" by preventing the gunman from continuing to fire.
(That same man appeared in Associated Press photographs of Fontanez's arraignment Monday in Roxbury District Court).
Last night, Colon remained at Rhode Island Hospital in satisfactory condition. The three wounded bystanders were treated and released on Sunday.
The details of Fontanez's prior assault case are penned in a police report on file in Roxbury District Court.
The details of Fontanez's surrender Sunday night for the shooting at the Puerto Rican festival hours earlier, are contained in a Boston police report.
That report was released yesterday by Major Hames, who noted that Fontanez's girlfriend "was instrumental in helping him surrender."
It was 11:30 Sunday night, the report states, when Fontanez arrived at the front desk of Boston's District B2 station house, wearing shorts and sneakers.
With Fontanez were his girlfriend, Vega, and the friend, Martin Rodriguez of Roxbury, who said Fontanez wanted to turn himself in "for the Providence thing."
Interpreting for Fontanez, Rodriguez handed a brown plastic bag to Patrolman Daniel E. Dwyer and stated, "There is a gun in the bag." Dwyer took the bag and locked it in a gun locker on the wall.
The gun, a black .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver with a brown handle, contained five live rounds of ammunition. The gun "has paint over the serial numbers," according to the report.
Inside the station, the police read Fontanez his Miranda rights in Spanish, the report states, then interviewed him relative to events in Providence earlier in the day.
That night, they announced his arrest.
On Monday morning, Fontanez pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and being a fugitive from justice.
The fugitive charge stems from a warrant Providence authorities have drawn up that charges Fontanez with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, relative to the shooting at the Puerto Rican festival.
The next step, according to Major Hames, is that Fontanez "will have a hearing to determine his probation status," on Aug. 23 in Massachusetts.
At some point thereafter, Hames said, Fontanez will likely be extradited to Rhode Island to face charges here.
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