After a four-hour sting in a Providence, Rhode Island, neighborhood on Monday afternoon, authorities ended up missing a suspect in a slaying that occurred days earlier in a nearby park.
According to WJAR reports, Providence police said they received a tip that a homicide suspect was on Hudson Street, but it turned out that no one was home.
After a street closure was held and the neighborhood secured, no one was arrested, but Chief Oscar Perez said police know who they’re looking for and they’re going to find him.
Providence police and the Rhode Island State Police used sirens and a megaphone to try to lure the suspect from a home on Hudson Street. They were looking for suspect Kevin Girón, 19, but he was not inside.
“The individual was here earlier today and something happened. There was a lapse of time and now he is not here, ”Pérez said in an impromptu briefing.
Perez said a group of youths were drinking at Donigian Park on Valley Street Saturday night when the events occurred. He said the victim and suspect walked away when Giron fired a shot into the chest of 19-year-old Juan Carlo Morales, killing him.
The chief said detectives have been working diligently ever since to find Giron so they can talk to him.
“The last thing I want is for one of my officers to get hurt or, as I said before, the person responsible for this incident to get hurt. So at that point, we use all the resources we can to make sure we have a safe ending and make sure that what we’re looking for is a safe matter and we face the justice system like anyone else,” Perez said. The chief said that no weapons were found inside the house. He urged Girón, wanted for murder, to surrender.
