PROVIDENCE — Ricky Saunders, 32, of 118 Donelson St., Wanskuck, is recovering at Rhode Island Hospital after he was shot over the weekend, the police said yesterday.

The police found Saunders lying on the sidewalk at Early and Broad streets, in Elmwood, between 3. and 3:30 a.m. Saturday. He had been shot once with a .45-caliber handgun in the vicinity of 15 Sassafras St., officers learned.

Saunders was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery and the bullet was removed.

Maria Estevez, who lives in an apartment at 22 Sassafras, told the police that she heard several gunshots and that people had had parties in her building after the nightclubs closed on recent weekends. Officers found three .45-caliber shell casings on the ground in front of 15 Sassafras, as well as a cell phone.

Left parked at the curb in front of 19 Sassafras was a borrowed car that Saunders apparently had used.

In other weekend violence, one brother stabbed another Saturday night after they argued in the kitchen of an apartment at 24 Leah St., Mount Pleasant, the police said.

On arriving at that address, officers found Jorge Castaneda, 27, who lives at 24 Leah, outside the house, his face and head covered in blood from a stab wound. Inside they found Edwin Y. Castaneda, 34, of the same address, with his shirt off, also with blood on him.

The police could not find the weapon used in the stabbing and, at last word, nobody had been charged with a crime.