Officials: Man indicted for role in shooting death of local barber Yusef A’Vant

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Friday that the Providence County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging a Providence man with murder for his role in the 2014 shooting death of 42-year-old Yusef A’Vant in East Providence.

On August 25, 2022, the Providence County Grand Jury returned a secret indictment charging 50-year-old Derek Winslow with one count of murder and one count of discharge of a firearm while in the commission of a crime of violence.

At a hearing on August 29, 2022, the secret indictment was unsealed, and the defendant was arraigned in Providence County Superior Court. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty and is being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

As alleged in the indictment, the defendant, along with Thomas Mosely and Evan Watson, previously indicted co-conspirators, murdered Yusef A’Vant at an East Providence barber shop where he worked on April 13, 2014.

Members of the East Providence Police Department and Office of the Attorney General established that Mosley and an accomplice, Evan Watson, drove to the barber shop where A’Vant worked. Mosely then confronted A’Vant and, after a brief struggle, shot him.

According to the only witness in the barbershop, Mosley entered the business while holding a silver revolver and ordered the witness to get on the floor. Mosely confronted A’Vant and, after a brief struggle, shot him in the abdomen before fleeing from the scene.

The witness ran across the street for help and alerted police. A’Vant was rushed to the hospital by emergency rescue but succumbed to his wound and passed shortly thereafter.

On February 28, 2020, Thomas Mosely was found guilty at trial of the murder of Yusef A’Vant and was sentenced serve consecutive life sentences at the ACI.

On October 18, 2016, Evan Watson pleaded guilty to the murder of Yusef A’Vant and is awaiting sentencing. He has been held at the ACI since his arrest in August 2016.

The East Providence Police Department and Assistant Attorneys General Scott Erickson and Robert E. Johnson IV of the Office of the Attorney General are leading the investigation and prosecution of the case, with assistance from the Providence Police Department and the Rhode Island State Police.