Resident at assisted-living complex guns down 1, injures 2 before killing himself in Rhode Island

Tom Mooney and Brian Amaral | The Providence Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Rhode Island shooting: 1 dead, 2 injured at an assisted-living complex An assisted-living complex resident shot and killed one person and wounded two others at the complex. Authorities found him dead in his room.

WESTERLY, R.I. – A 66-year-old resident of an assisted-living complex shot and killed one person and wounded two others before taking his own life Thursday morning, prompting area schools and businesses to lock down, police said.

The shooting victims were all women, Westerly Police Chief Shawn Lacey said at a Thursday afternoon press conference. A 47-year-old employee of the residential complex was killed, Lacey said. Two others, a 38-year-old employee and a 67-year-old resident, were wounded.

Lacey provided little information about the suspect but said that he was known to authorities.

"His name was in our system," Lacey said.

Authorities would not release any names during a midafternoon news conference; families were still being notified.

The 38-year-old employee was in critical condition, Lacey said; she was taken first to Westerly Hospital and was being flown to Yale New Haven Hospital. The 67-year-old resident was taken to Rhode Island Hospital and was in stable condition after surgery.

Lacey said active shooter situations are rare in Westerly, a beach town of about 22,000 people where Taylor Swift owns a mansion.

"It's a shock to the community ... there's never any serious type of crimes of this nature," he said. "This is a low-crime community."

The first call to Westerly police came in at 10:32 a.m. for a single person shot, Lacey said. Officers raced to the scene in three minutes. They ordered all the tenants in the 151-unit complex to remain in their rooms and began reviewing surveillance camera footage of the area where the shootings took place, searching for a suspect.

They identified one man, a resident, who appeared to come into and out of the area, Lacey said. About two hours after the shots had been fired, a tactical team of state and local police officers took up positions at the door of the shooter’s apartment.

They opened the door with a master key and sent in a robot, which sent back video of the suspect apparently dead, said state police Supt. Col. James Manni. Officers found he had died from a gunshot and recovered a pistol.

The Westerly Public Schools locked down in the aftermath of the shooting.The lockdown was lifted at about 12:45 p.m. but most after-school activities were cancelled.

Gov. Gina Raimondo said on Twitter that she was "closely monitoring the situation in Westerly."

I am closely monitoring the situation in Westerly and in constant contact with Rhode Island State Police Col. Manni. I stand with the people of Westerly and all Rhode Islanders in coming together to support the victims and their families during this difficult time. — Gina Raimondo (@GovRaimondo) December 19, 2019

Reports of gunfire had seven workers at a boat repair business next door hiding in their own lockdown. One of them, Tracy Wise, said the workers had gathered at the In Motion Marine Repair for a company Christmas party when "everyone’s phones just started going off" about a shooting at the apartment complex.

"We locked the doors until they caught whoever was out there," she said.

"It’s a little scary knowing the guy may be running around behind us," she said. "I don’t like being this close to something like this. We heard all the schools are in lockdown. It is not my time to die."

Twelve people at the Granite Group, a nearby plumbing and heating store, were also in lockdown, said Bob Santos, a counter salesman.

"We saw all the cruisers going by and then heard what was going on on social media," he said. "We are just looking out the window when we can, making sure nothing is going on in our parking lot. No one seems too concerned at the moment."

Westerly is about 40 miles south of Providence. Babcock Village is a three story elderly preference apartment complex where applicants must meet federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit guidelines. Residents pay about 30% of their adjusted gross income for rent.

Mooney and Amaral write for the Providence Journal. Contributing: John Bacon and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY