The Providence case moved from a 2023 police response to a 2026 sentence.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Nearly three years after police found Angel Rodriguez shot on Manton Avenue, Luis Sepulveda was sentenced to spend life in prison for killing him during a Mother’s Day family party.
The case moved through several stages before the April 10 sentence: the 2023 shooting, an indictment, a seven-day trial, an October 2025 verdict and a final hearing before Superior Court Justice Kristin E. Rodgers. Sepulveda, 55, received two consecutive life sentences and an additional 10-year non-parolable term after the court declared him a habitual offender.
The police response began at about 11:04 p.m. on May 14, 2023, when Providence officers were sent to Manton Avenue for a report of a shooting. They arrived to find Rodriguez, 44, wounded in the chest. CPR was performed at the scene, and rescue personnel took him to Rhode Island Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:36 p.m. That half-hour span became the first public timeline in a case that would later focus on what happened inside and around the garage of the home.
Prosecutors said Sepulveda and Rodriguez were both attending the Mother’s Day gathering. Earlier that day, witnesses said, the two men argued and resolved the dispute without violence. Later, a fight broke out in the garage. The state said Sepulveda pulled a gun from his bag, fired two rounds into the air and then shot Rodriguez in the chest. A sentencing memorandum cited by local courtroom reporting said Sepulveda threatened Rodriguez during the confrontation. The full reason the earlier disagreement began has not been laid out in the public court summaries.
After the shooting, the investigation quickly moved from the home to the highway. Prosecutors said Sepulveda fled in a gray minivan. Rhode Island State Police troopers stopped the vehicle on Route 95 South and arrested him. The search of the minivan produced a handgun in the driver’s door. At the scene, investigators found five shell casings. Ballistic analysis later linked those casings to the gun from the van. Tests also found gunshot residue on Sepulveda’s hands, and DNA analysis found evidence of his DNA on the firearm.
The Providence County grand jury later returned charges, and the case proceeded to trial in 2025. Jurors heard evidence on the shooting itself, the firearm, the shell casings, Sepulveda’s statement to police and the forensic testing. On Oct. 23, 2025, after a seven-day trial, the jury convicted Sepulveda of first-degree murder and six other counts. The charges covered both Rodriguez’s death and the illegal possession and use of the weapon. The verdict set up a sentencing hearing in which prosecutors asked the court to impose life imprisonment.
At that hearing, Prosecutor Daniel C. Hopkins described the case as a killing committed with a gun Sepulveda had no legal right to possess. Hopkins said Sepulveda traveled from North Carolina to Rhode Island, brought the loaded firearm into a family celebration and killed another family member in cold blood. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha also focused on the firearm and Sepulveda’s record. Neronha said the sentence could not bring Rodriguez back but might provide some measure of peace to those who cared for him.
Rodgers imposed two consecutive life terms at the Adult Correctional Institutions. She also added the 10-year non-parolable habitual offender sentence, consecutive to the life sentences. The jury’s convictions included first-degree murder, discharge of a firearm resulting in death, carrying a pistol without a license, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, assault with a dangerous weapon, using a firearm during a violent crime and possessing a large-capacity feeding device. The structure of the sentence means the court treated the murder and the firearm conduct as separate and serious parts of the same criminal event.
The hearing also marked the first time many public accounts centered on Rodriguez’s relatives rather than the evidence. Family members and people who attended the gathering spoke about the long reach of the shooting. One speaker said the killing had put the family through a nightmare. Another said memories of that day still entered their mind and left them asking why it happened. Several relatives wore necklaces with Rodriguez’s photo, turning the courtroom into a visible record of grief as well as a place for sentencing.
Providence Police Colonel Oscar L. Perez said gun violence has no place in the community and thanked officers and prosecutors for their work. Neronha said Sepulveda’s actions had forever changed the lives of Rodriguez’s family, friends and community. The investigation and prosecution were led by Special Assistant Attorneys General Daniel C. Hopkins and Edward G. Mullaney and Providence police Detective Alicia Hersperger. Their work turned witness accounts, recovered evidence and lab results into the trial record that supported the convictions.
Sepulveda is now in state custody under the April 10 sentence. The criminal case stands at the post-sentencing stage, with the next public developments likely to come only through court filings, custody records or any appeal-related proceedings.
Author note: Last updated May 5, 2026.