CRANSTON -- One day after a fatal shooting shattered the peace in this "quiet little neighborhood," police investigators continued trying to figure out what went wrong.

A police officer walked slowly, pointing a camera along the curb's edge this morning. Another raked debris away from the curb. And dirt appeared to have been overturned in the yard.

On this short cul de sac with the tranquil name Daisy Court, a ribbon of yellow tape today cordoned off a neighborhood.

Yesterday, the Cranston police arrested former Providence police officer Nicholas Gianquitti, 40, of 16 Daisy Court in the shooting death of his neighbor, James A. Pagano, a Cranston firefighter and father of two who resided at 10 Daisy Court.

Journal photo/ Bill Murphy

Nicholas Gianquitti, of Cranston, is led away by sheriffs after being arraigned in Kent County District Court on a charge of murder. At left is Gianquitti's attorney William Devine.

Earlier today, Gianquitti, a graduate of Cranston High School West who worked as a Providence police officer in the early 1990s, was ordered held without bail following his arraignment on a murder charge in Kent County District Court, Warwick.

Pagano was shot at about 3:15 p.m. yesterday at Gianquitti's house, according to the police

Pagano was hosting a party at his own house at 10 Daisy Court, according to neighbors. It was a party for one of his children, the Associated Press reported. It was unclear how Pagano wound up next door.

Cranston Police Maj. Ronald Blackmar declined to discuss the circumstances of the shooting this morning, saying the police were still collecting evidence and piecing it together.

Former mayor Michael A. Traficante said he couldn't believe it when he heard that Pagano had been shot to death. Pagano had been an aide to Traficante for a few years and came from a large Cranston family.

"This hits hard," Traficante said today.

Traficante, now the Cranston School Committee chairman, said Pagano was "a very bright young man, a guy who was very enthusiastic about getting the job done, very dependable."

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Cranston detectives spent the morning looking for evidence at 16 Daisy Court, right, the home of Nicholas Gianquitti, accused of shooting his neighbor, who lived next door to the left.

Paul Valletta Jr., the local firefighters union president, said of Pagano: "We're a family here, and all families have their spats sometimes. But he never got in a spat with anyone."

Firefighters that Pagano worked with at Station 3 on Cranston Street said he was a well-liked, happy-go-lucky guy, a big Red Sox fan who would watch games at the fire house.

And Pagano made his opinions known during games when something happened on the field -- Valletta recalled humorously that sometimes he thought the Sox could hear Pagano through the television set.

An autopsy on Pagano was scheduled for 2 p.m. today.

Gianquitti joined the Providence police on July 9, 1991, and was injured six months later during a foot chase off North Main Street when he jumped off a wall and fractured a knee, according to Providence Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy. He was granted an accidental disability on Jan. 23, 1993, Kennedy said.

He and his wife, Jennifer, bought their home on Daisy Court on Oct. 31, 2005, according to Journal archival records.

Gianquitti, who appeared at his arraignment in a white jumpsuit, his hands cuffed, did not enter a plea at today's District Court arraignment because he is charged with a felony, and those charges fall under the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. He's scheduled to return to court June 2.

Meanwhile, the police continue with their investigation, and Gianquitti's old neighbors try to make sense of the shooting.

“Quiet little neighborhood,” neighbor Paul Gebhart said yesterday. “Not so quiet anymore.”

-- With reports from Journal staff writers Tom Mooney, David Scharfenberg, Amanda Milkovits and Gregory Smith.