RI 20-year-old sentenced to life in prison after killing innocent bystander in fatal shooting

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that a Providence man was sentenced in Providence County Superior Court to life in prison after pleading to the murder of 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez, an innocent bystander, during a 2020 shooting in Providence.

20-year-old Felix Rosado-Hernandez entered a plea of guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

At a hearing on May 2, 2022, before Superior Court Justice Kristin E. Rodgers, the Court sentenced the defendant to life at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

“In 2020, the defendant perpetrated a senseless act of gun violence that cut short the life of an innocent bystander and forever changed the lives of his family and loved ones,” said Attorney General Neronha. “While nothing can bring Mr. Gonzalez back to his family, it is my hope that this sentence will bring his family a measure of justice. I am grateful to the Providence Police Department for their outstanding work and partnership during the investigation and prosecution of this case.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, according to the Attorney General’s Office, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that during the evening on July 1, 2020, the defendant shot and killed 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez, an innocent bystander, outside of a home on Progress Avenue.

Earlier that evening, the defendant traveled to a home on Progress Avenue to visit with his significant other. While the defendant sat on a second-floor unit balcony, he noticed an individual who he recognized park a truck and walk into the basement unit of the home.

The defendant believed the individual he recognized to be involved in a previous violent crime incident and developed a plan to attack, shoot, and kill the individual. As part of his plan, the defendant left the home for approximately thirty minutes and then returned to nearby Terrace Avenue where he waited for his target to exit the home on Progress Avenue.

Once his target had returned to his truck, the defendant rounded the corner of Terrace Avenue, onto Progress Avenue, approached the truck and opened fire with a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun. The defendant fired 14 bullets in the direction of the truck, missing his intended target, but striking and killing Jorge Gonzalez, who was standing nearby.

Investigators later learned that Jorge Gonzalez was at the home that evening performing construction work in the basement of the building.

Investigators were never able to recover the gun used in the murder.

“I commend the Providence Police Detectives and members of the Office of the Attorney General for their investigation and prosecution into this case that involved a dangerous criminal who engaged in a senseless act of violence and resulted in the murder of an innocent victim,” said Providence Commissioner of Public Safety Steven M. Paré. “The defendant is more than deserving of this sentence and hopefully this will allow the victims’ loved ones some sense of justice.”

Detective Sergeant Fabio Zuena, Detective Doug Steele, Detective Raymond Majeau, Detective Theodore Michael, and Detective James Clift of the Providence Police Department and Assistant Attorney General John F. Perrotta and Special Assistant Attorney General Michael S. McCabe of the Office of the Attorney General led the investigation and prosecution of the case.