In the quiet, early hours of a Sunday morning in Providence, Rhode Island, the life of Tyrone Williams, a 27-year-old Black male, came to a violent and tragic end. Just after midnight on July 1, 2018, Williams was sitting in a car with his girlfriend on Gallup Street, waiting for a friend to arrive. The calm was abruptly broken when an assailant circled the vehicle and began shooting into the passenger side where Williams was sitting.
In a desperate bid for his life, Williams climbed
over his girlfriend and fled the car, but the gunman pursued him on foot down the street, continuing to fire. Williams ultimately collapsed at the intersection of Gallup Street and Gordon Avenue. He was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where he succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds. His girlfriend, who was with him in the car, was not injured during the attack. The death marked the sixth homicide in the city that year.
Providence police launched an investigation and soon came to believe that Williams knew his assailant and that the murder might have been linked to a prior, non-fatal shooting. Their inquiries led them to a suspect, Arnold Evans, who was 37 years old at the time. Evans was indicted for the murder of Tyrone Williams on October 17, 2018. He was held without bail and subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. For the killing, Arnold Evans was sentenced to life in prison.
