On the evening of November 3, 2025, in a second-floor apartment on Rathbun Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 45-year-old man Donald Roderick Jr. walked into the middle of a nightmare that had started before he arrived home. He shared the apartment with his partner, 40-year-old nursing student Kimberly Pieranunzi, and Kimberly's 19-year-old daughter.
What had been an ordinary Monday turned into a deadly confrontation that unfolded in a matter of minutes, leaving Donald and Kimberly dead and the man responsible lying beside them, the violence contained within the walls of their home but echoing far beyond it.
Earlier that evening, Kimberly's daughter had been in her bedroom with her ex-boyfriend, 24-year-old Sean Rivera, who had been living in the apartment. The two were talking about their strained relationship when the conversation took a terrifying turn. Investigators say Rivera pulled out a handgun, demanded sex, and allegedly sexually assaulted her as the situation escalated. She managed to break away and run to her mother's room, desperate and bleeding, as the chaos grew louder behind her. Around 6:45 p.m., neighbors heard gunfire, and police began receiving reports of shots fired at 411 Rathbun Street. Moments later, the teenager fled the building and ran down the street to a nearby smoke shop, begging employees to hide her and help her, her hands and clothes smeared with blood as she tried to explain that there had been a shooting at her home.
Inside the apartment, Rivera forced his way into the bedroom where Kimberly had taken refuge with her daughter. According to investigators, he fired multiple times, killing Kimberly in her own room. As the young woman escaped to seek help outside, Donald was arriving home, walking straight into the unfolding tragedy. Police say Rivera shot him as he came back to the apartment, then turned the gun on himself, ending his own life. When officers arrived, they found three people with gunshot wounds; two were rushed to Landmark Medical Center and pronounced dead there, while the third was declared dead at the scene. Authorities later identified the deceased as Kimberly Pieranunzi, Donald Roderick Jr., and Sean Rivera, and confirmed that Rivera was the gunman in what they officially classified as a double murder-suicide. Investigators recovered a. 380-caliber handgun from the scene and later learned it had been reported stolen out of Maine, deepening the questions around how Rivera obtained the weapon. Police emphasized that the violence was confined to the people inside the apartment and that there was no ongoing threat to the broader community.
In the days that followed, the headlines about the shooting were paired with more intimate glimpses of Donald's life. His obituary described a man born in Providence, the son of Donald Hazard and Cynthia Roderick, who was known for being hardworking, devoted, and fiercely protective of those he loved. Family and friends remembered him as someone who always put others first, the kind of person who would do anything to support and shield his loved ones. He found peace in fishing, cherished traveling, and valued time with family above all else. The same notices noted that he died alongside Kimberly, his beloved partner, leaving behind his parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, and Kimberly's daughter, all struggling to grasp the sudden, violent hole left in their lives.
While Donald's family prepared for memorial services and mourners built a growing shrine of flowers and candles on the steps of the Rathbun Street apartment, the wider community gathered at Bernon Park to honor both Donald and Kimberly. Friends and colleagues spoke of Kimberly's dedication as a student in an LPN-to-RN nursing program and the bright future she had been close to realizing. Domestic violence advocates pointed to the killings as a harrowing example of intimate partner violence that began with control and sexual coercion and ended in lethal force. Organizations like Sojourner House publicly expressed grief and urged the public not to look away from what had happened, framing the case as part of a broader pattern of relationship-based violence that too often turns deadly. Two fundraising campaigns were launched to help cover funeral expenses and support Kimberly's daughter as she tries to rebuild her life after surviving an ordeal that took both her mother and Donald from her. With Rivera identified as the shooter and dead at the scene, police have not announced any arrests and are not seeking additional suspects, focusing instead on reconstructing the timeline of the attack and tracing the path of the stolen firearm that allowed a private conflict to explode into a triple fatality.
