On a spring afternoon in Waterbury, Connecticut, 56-year-old Mabel Martinez Antongiorgi was inside her home on Orange Street, busy with her crafts. It was April 9, 2022, a day that would end in tragedy, not just for her family, but for a community shaken by senseless violence. A series of events, completely unrelated to her, unfolded outside her door, culminating in a stray bullet piercing through the walls of her home and striking her in the head.
She was later found by her son and succumbed to her injuries at Saint Mary's Hospital.
The fatal shot was one of more than 20 fired in a drug-related incident that stemmed from a petty jealousy. The intended target was not Martinez Antongiorgi, but a man who had greeted the girlfriend of one of the shooters. This trivial encounter led Franklin Robinson, then 40, to recruit two associates, Jasper Greene and Levi Brock, to retaliate. The three men drove to Orange Street and opened fire on a parked car they believed belonged to the intended victim. While their target was unharmed, a bullet found its way into the home of Martinez Antongiorgi, a beloved mother and the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter who competed for Puerto Rico in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
The investigation into the senseless killing led to the identification and arrest of the three men involved. Franklin Robinson was convicted of murder and other charges, ultimately receiving a 90-year prison sentence for his role as the orchestrator of the shooting. Jasper Greene, who was 20 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 33 years in prison. The third suspect, Levi Brock, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in the tragic death of Mabel Martinez Antongiorgi.
