Police say man allegedly assaulted by 4 juveniles has died
(WJAR) — The Providence Police Department announced the 51-year-old man who was allegedly assaulted by four juveniles on Manton Avenue this week has died.
Four juvenile suspects admitted to assaulting a man on the street Monday, knocking him to the ground, punching him, and then running away.
Family members identified the victim as 51-year-old Rony Alonzo. He was transported to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
An autopsy is still pending . Authorities said more information will be released once that is complete.
All four children, three 12-year-olds and one 11-year-old, were charged with felony assault and conspiracy related to the incident on Monday.
"Now that the victim has died, these charges are going to be amended. They're going to be murder charges. It's no longer a felony assault," said NBC 10 Legal Analyst Austin Dana.
A Family Court judge ordered all four held at the Rhode Island Training School.
However, Dana said the Attorney General can petition to move the case to superior court and try the four juveniles as adults.
"There's a process that needs to unfold here. And that is the attorney general needs to petition the family law court to waive them into Superior Court and allow them to be tried as adults," he said. "A judge is going to make the decision as to whether or not they ultimately are."
As for how the judge will make that decision, Dana said, "a judge in this case is going to be weighing whether or not society can be protected against a group of children who acted violently and killed a man."
The judge will have to decide if society can "be protected by sentencing them just to training school until they age out," or if the "danger to society more real and more weighing heavily on sending them to the superior court, where they can be sentenced for a longer period of time."
The investigation is still ongoing.
