Suspects in teen’s murder indicted
2 men charged in death of Nyasia Williams-Thomas to be tried as adults
WOONSOCKET — Police arrested three people within two days of the 2019 shooting death of Nyasia Williams-Thomas, but the identities of two of them were released for the first time on Thursday as their indictments for the crime were announced.
Craig Robinson and Quinton St. Pierre were juveniles when they allegedly conspired to murder the 17-year-old, but a Family Court judge agreed they should be tried as adults for the crime several weeks ago, according to Kristy DosReis, spokeswoman for the attorney general.
Normally law enforcement does not identify defendants under the age of 18, but the Family Court’s decision means that the crimes they’re accused of will be adjudicated in all respects as if they were already adults when the offenses took place. They are both 19 years old now.
On March 8, a Providence County grand jury indicted Robinson and St. Pierre on multiple counts for their alleged roles in the slaying. Both are charged with murder; discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death; two counts each of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon; conspiracy to commit murder; and carrying a pistol without a permit.
They are to be arraigned in Superior Court on March 24.
A third man accused in the crime is Jose Ortiz-Martinez, who was arrested by the Woonsocket Police Department around the same time as Robinson and St. Pierre. Ortiz-Martinez had just turned 18 three days before the homicide and is also 19 now. All three men are now held without bail pending the resolution of their charges.
Williams-Thomas was sitting in a car parked on Village Road with two other people on Dec. 4, 2019 when she was struck by at least one round
in an attack described as an orchestrated ambush. But investigators say it’s unlikely she was the intended target of the alleged assailants, who may have mistaken her position in the vehicle – or her identity – in the nighttime shooting.
The police say the attackers had been involved in a running feud with a 14-yearold boy who was in the back seat of the vehicle and that he was the person the bullets were probably meant for.
Williams-Thomas was in the driver’s seat, and an adult female who owned the vehicle was in the front passenger seat. No one else was injured.
Williams-Thomas was gravely wounded when police arrived at the scene. Officer Jason Berthelette administered CPR to the victim, but she was later pronounced dead at the hospital.