Keshaudas Spence, a 29-year-old Black / African American man and celebrated athlete, was killed in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, June 26, 2021. That morning, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, police responded to a 911 call on Winthrop Avenue. They found Spence in the passenger seat of a black Acura, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency personnel rushed him to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he was pronounced dead.
His death was ruled a homicide.
Known affectionately as 'Shaudy,' Keshaudas was a native of Brockton, Massachusetts, who grew up in Roxbury. His passion for football began at age nine and carried him to a standout career. He starred at Catholic Memorial High School and later attended the Taft School, a preparatory school in Connecticut. He went on to play as a star running back for Sacred Heart University from 2011 to 2014, becoming the program's all-time leading rusher with 3,745 yards. After graduating in 2015 with a degree in communications, he played in the Indoor Football League for the Green Bay Blizzard and the Iowa Barnstormers. His former coach, Mark Nofri, remembered him as "one of the greatest ever to wear a SHU football jersey," adding that he was a "great football player, outstanding teammate and an even better person."
The investigation into the shooting revealed that Spence, along with a group of other men, had visited several locations in Providence before arriving at an apartment complex on Winthrop Avenue in Pawtucket around 2 a.m. Using witness interviews and surveillance footage from multiple locations, investigators were able to piece together the group's movements. Footage from the apartment complex captured one of the men, later identified as Karel Martinez-Scarlet of Providence, firing a gun in the direction of the Acura where Spence was found. The shooter was then seen getting into another car and leaving the scene.
Based on the evidence, police arrested Martinez-Scarlet on August 6, 2021. Following his arrest, he admitted to having discharged a firearm at the scene of the shooting. In the fall of 2021, a grand jury indicted him on charges including murder and conspiracy.
On October 6, 2026, following a month-long trial in Providence County Superior Court, a jury convicted Karel Martinez-Scarlet, then 31 years old, of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license. As of October 2026, his sentencing was pending.
