WORCESTER — Saturday’s homicide on the campus of Worcester State University was the second in the city this year, compared to 12 in 2022.
Last year’s number includes the four people who were killed in the 2 Gage St. fire that is being treated as arson.
Worcester’s homicide numbers since 2015:
- 2023 (Jan.-Oct.) – 2
- 2022 – 12
- 2021 – 8
- 2020 – 9
- 2019 – 13
- 2018 – 5
- 2017 – 6
- 2016 – 7
- 2015 – 8
Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier credits the lower rate of homicides this year to how police respond to shootings. The WPD, he said, treats every shooting like a homicide in terms of the resources they dedicate to it.
“We put all the resources we have into finding out who committed these [shootings] so we can take them off the street, which lessens the chances of them committing another one,” Saucier told the Worcester Guardian Monday.
Law enforcement officials responded to two homicides in Worcester on Saturday, but police have not yet confirmed if the second homicide victim sustained his injuries within the city. If the man was found to be shot within city limits, it will mark the third homicide in Worcester in 2023.
First, Randy Armando Melendez Jr, 19, of Southbridge was the victim of an early morning shooting on the campus of Worcester State University, and later died. A 21-year-old man was also shot during the altercation, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office.
Later that day, Worcester police officers were sent to an area hospital following a report of a gunshot victim dropped off around 4 p.m. The man was suffering from serious injuries and was pronounced dead at 4:18 p.m., according to a statement from the WPD.
Saucier said it’s very early in the investigation into the afternoon shooting and they have yet to determine where the shooting took place before the victim was dropped off at the hospital.
Saucier said there is nothing at this point leading them to believe that the two shootings on Saturday are connected.
Furthermore, Saucier doesn’t believe the two homicides in one day indicate an uptick in violence in the city, calling it simply a coincidence.
Resources used by the WPD to investigate shootings include a reinstituted Shooting Response Team made up of uniformed police officers, vice unit detectives and gang unit detectives, according to Saucier.
That team was activated on Saturday, though State Police detectives assigned to the DA’s office are leading the investigation into the Worcester State shooting.
Saucier said he is continuing to meet with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to create a Gun Intelligence Center where they would be able to share information about the guns they are confiscating and determine if they’ve been involved in multiple shootings.
The interim chief also credits the lower homicide this year on the programs that the department offers youth in the community that include music programs, sports programs and a summer camp, among others.
“We want people to know us on a first name basis and that’s the way we do it,” Saucier said. “We don’t want to just show up at their house when something bad happens; we want to be with them doing good times and creating good times for them so we can establish that relationship.”
The first homicide of 2023 was the result of an April 9 shooting on Dorchester Street. A 24 year-old Worcester resident was shot and later died from his injuries at the hospital on April 20.
State Police are seeking the public’s help to locate Kevin Rodriguez, 18, who is wanted in connection with the Worcester State shooting.
Rodriguez should be considered armed and dangerous, according to a statement from the Worcester DA’s office.
The DA’s office is asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact State Police detectives at (508) 453-7589 or State Police Fugitive Apprehension Section at 1-800-KAPTURE (1 800-527-8873).
Another teenager, 18-year-old Richard Nieves of Southbridge, has already been arrested in connection with the shooting and charged with carrying a firearm without a license and trespassing.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
