PROVIDENCE — The young men were hanging out and drinking in a shaded city park in the heart of Olneyville, until there was an argument — and one man had a gun.
As a young Guatemalan man walked away from the gathering around 9 p.m. Saturday, the man he’d been arguing with followed and shot him in the chest, said Police Chief Oscar Perez.
Nineteen-year-old Juan Carlos Morales died behind the concession stand before police arrived. It was a month before his 20th birthday.
Morales, who was living in Providence, is survived by his father in Providence and his mother in Guatemala. A poster hung on the wall of the concession stand now begs for help sending his remains back to his home country.
Advertisement
Morales was “just another person who came to this country trying to make a change in his life, and unfortunately lost his life on Saturday night,” Perez said Monday.
The man accused of killing Morales was arrested twice last year for gun crimes.
Kevin Giron, 19, was charged in May 2022 with shooting a gun in the city. He pleaded no contest in August and received a six-month suspended sentence with probation. He was also ordered to attend alcohol counseling.
That same month, Giron was arrested again, this time for carrying a gun without a license. He was released on $5,000 surety bail later in August and ordered to submit to monitoring for alcohol.
Ten months later, and Providence police now have an arrest warrant for Giron, charging him with the murder of Morales. The department warned that Giron was considered armed and dangerous, and asked people with information about his whereabouts to contact detectives Alicia Hersperger or Joseph Nezier at (401) 243-6406.
On Monday afternoon, police searched a home on Hudson Street where Giron was believed to be staying with relatives, Perez said. But Giron had fled.
Advertisement
Morales’ death is the 21st shooting and the sixth homicide in Providence this year, an increase from 16 shootings and four homicides last year, Perez said.
Donigan Memorial Park, named for a local soldier who died in World War II, had started to shed its gritty, dangerous past, and become more of a hub for the Central American families who live in the neighborhood’s triple-deckers and apartment houses.
There are often community events, including some hosted by the police. Perez’s dance-off with local children during the “Summer Safety Slam” at the park won a photo contest from the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Local children were using the new playground equipment, playing basketball and soccer in the field.
“This is right in the center of the Central American community,” said Perez, who is Colombian.
Morales was a part of this community, playing soccer with La Valley team, and joining friends at the park there daily. “He was a good kid, a working man,” said Juan, a friend of Morales, who declined to give his last name. “He was a brother to us. We are like a family.”
As he spoke, a young man with an armful of flowers sat near the candles and blue balloons at the spot where Morales died, and he wept.
This story has been updated with the identity of the murder suspect.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMilkovits.