Two Rhode Island men who pleaded guilty in connection with the 2019 shooting death of a 17-year-old girl have been sent to prison for life, prosecutors said.
Quinton St. Pierre, 20, and Craig Robinson, 20, both pleaded guilty recently to second-degree murder and other charges in the December 2019 death of Nyasia Williams-Thomas as she sat in a vehicle near a Woonsocket apartment complex, according to a statement Wednesday from the office of state Attorney General Peter Neronha.
St. Pierre and Robinson were not trying to shoot Williams-Thomas, but were gunning for a 14-year-old boy with whom they had a dispute who was also in the vehicle, authorities said.
“Petty disputes and illegal firearms in the hands of individuals all too willing to use them remains a toxic mix, resulting in too many senseless deaths in Rhode Island,” Neronha said in a statement. “That is precisely the scenario here, and as a result, a young woman, with her entire life ahead of her, has been lost to her family and her community.”
A third defendant who was also at the scene but was not armed pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit robbery and sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
