Providence police identify Maine man as first homicide victim of 2022
Providence police on Tuesday identified the city's first homicide victim of 2022 as 35-year-old Biniam Tsegai of Portland, Maine.
Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Tsegai and 20-year-old Merhawi Berhe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, were walking in a group on Elmwood Avenue when they were approached by four men, Maj. David Lapatin, who commands the department's investigative division, told reporters.
One of the four took out a gun and shot Tsegai and Berhe multiple times. Both were brought to Rhode Island Hospital, but police believe Tsegai actually died at the scene. Berhe, who was seriously wounded and has since undergone surgery, is recovering.
Police have not yet identified anyone in the group of four.
Previous reporting: One person dead, another critically injured in Providence's first homicide of 2022
Lapatin said that before the shooting, Tsegai and Berhe came out of "an after-hours illegal club" believed to be in the basement of a building at Elmwood and Potters avenues. Police were unable to get into the club after the shooting, though Lapatin said officers would return.
The location is what police call a "sip joint" — an illegitimately operated bar where alcohol is sold and partiers sometimes pay a cover charge.
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"It’s a club, and they pop up here and there around the city," Lapatin said. "After hours, after the nightclubs close, two, three o’clock, these places open. They’re not licensed. They’re not inspected. They’re just thrown together. Sometimes they’re in houses, sometimes they’re in businesses."
Lapatin explained that patrol officers typically notice such operations when there are cars gathered around a certain location. However, police need to be cautious not to mistake private parties for sip joints, observing the locations for a few weekends until acting, Lapatin said.
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Police do not yet know whether the shooting was targeted, and why the victims traveled to Rhode Island.
While Providence saw an exceptionally high number of homicides in 2021, Lapatin believes activity will quiet down this year, granted the number of guns taken off the street.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence police: Maine man was killed in first homicide of 2022
