In the early morning hours of March 22, 2015, the life of 27-year-old Christian Omar Puello-Rosado was tragically cut short. The young man was at an apartment party on Narragansett Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts, when an argument escalated into fatal violence. Gunshots rang out around 5 a.m., sending attendees fleeing from the scene. When police arrived, they discovered Puello-Rosado deceased from an apparent gunshot wound inside the apartment, which was littered with empty beer bottles.
Another victim, a 28-year-old woman, also suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound during the incident. She was transported to a local hospital by a friend. The shooting marked the city's first homicide of the year. In the wake of the violence, friends of Puello-Rosado started a fund to support his grieving family.
The investigation into the shooting led police to a suspect, Angel Ortiz-Santos. He was arrested in June 2015 and charged with murder and assault and battery with a firearm in connection with Puello-Rosado's death. Despite the testimony of four witnesses who allegedly saw Ortiz-Santos shoot and kill Puello-Rosado, the legal proceedings culminated in a not guilty verdict in 2018. Following the trial, Ortiz-Santos was implicated in a separate fatal shooting in 2021.
