Byron Zepeda, of Providence, is arraigned yesterday in District Court, Providence, on a first-degree murder charge. He had turned himself in to authorities Thursday.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

PROVIDENCE — A weepy Byron Zepeda, 23, was arraigned yesterday on a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of Richard G. Robinson, 41, who the police said was shot dead as he tried to stop a fight in his yard.

Zepeda, a construction laborer and a friend of Robinson’s estranged stepson, fled to Texas as detectives looked for him after the week-old slaying, the police said yesterday. Counseled by family and friends to surrender, Zepeda took a plane back to Rhode Island; detectives picked him up Thursday night at T.F. Green Airport.

“Once in Texas he realized after speaking to family members that the right thing to do was to turn himself in and not continue to elude police,” said Detective Capt. Hugh T. Clements Jr., who had barely missed catching up to him a couple of times in Providence. The suspect went to Texas, Clements said, because he has friends and family there.

Zepeda was brought into District Court late in the morning, and Magistrate Joseph Ippolito ordered that he be held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

In an unrelated case, Clements acknowledged that the police have obtained an arrest warrant for Kendall Johnson, 19, whose last known address was 64 Huber Ave., in connection with the shooting of a man in an unsuccessful robbery at Chad Brown public housing complex Tuesday night.

“He is a subject who is known to us and is prone to violence,” Clements said of Johnson.

The incident that led to Robinson’s death, according to the police, began with Richie Matias, 19, Robinson’s estranged stepson, calling Robinson’s house at 652 Douglas Ave. and speaking to another stepson, Ivan Matias, 17. Richie Matias, who had been ordered to stay out of the house, called to say that he was coming back to pick up some clothes, and he got into an argument on the phone with Ivan, who told him that he was not welcome, Clements related.

Matias, accompanied by Zepeda, of 109 Detroit Ave., nevertheless came over to the house late at night on March 28. A fistfight ensued between Richie and Ivan, and Robinson, 41, tried to play peacemaker, according to Clements. During the struggle Zepeda pulled out a handgun and Robinson was shot once in the torso. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Robinson, who worked at a Burger King restaurant in Cranston, lived with his girlfriend, Elsa Garcia, their daughter and three stepchildren at 652 Douglas, according to the police. Garcia denied to The Journal that Robinson lived with her, however.

Zepeda is on probation and a 10-year suspended sentence after having been convicted of possessing a pistol without a license. Special Assistant Attorney General James Callaghan told the magistrate that Zepeda would be brought to Superior Court and charged with being a probation violator.

Ippolito did not take a plea from Zepeda, who stood with his head bowed and his hands manacled in front, because felonies are not adjudicated in District Court.

Clements said the police have not recovered the weapon that was used to shoot Robinson.

In the Chad Brown case, the police identified the wounded victim as Donald Washington, 36, of Providence. Clements said Kendall Johnson and another man were at an apartment at Chad Brown, at 64D June St., visiting a woman, and that Washington stopped by, too.

Johnson and the other man left, but then Johnson returned a few minutes later, this time with his face covered by a black ski mask, Clements alleged. Johnson accosted Washington, who was standing outside smoking a cigarette, and allegedly demanded to have a thick gold neck-chain that Washington was wearing.

Clements said Johnson struck Washington in the head with a handgun and then put the gun to Washington’s head and twice used it to make a clicking sound. Washington ran and Johnson then shot him in the upper left arm, Clements alleged.

Washington was treated at Rhode Island Hospital for a head cut and a grazing gunshot wound.

The arrest warrant charges Johnson with assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted robbery.

gsmith@projo.com