How safe was Providence in 2023? What year-end statistics show.
PROVIDENCE – The number of homicides in the city rose last year from a historic low in 2022, but remained well below the spike of homicides seen in 2021.
Providence tallied 14 homicides, according to the city. That tally for 2023 was up from 9 homicides in 2022 – a number that officials including then-Mayor Jorge O. Elorza had touted as a 50-year-low.
While 14 homicides is an increase, it's not far from historic lows. It's also well beneath the 23 homicides recorded in 2021 and far below annual totals from the 1990s and 2000s.
Some of the year's high-profile homicides
A major case at the outset of 2023 involved the killing of a 35-year-old landlord during a dispute with a tenant. Jennie Jensen was fatally shot by Rufus Watson in Olneyville, police said at the time. Watson, who said he was defending himself, opened fire with an AR-15, they said, adding that his door was kicked in and investigators believed people in the hallway were armed.
In May, a 44-year-old man, Angel Rodriguez, was shot at a Mother's Day party in the Manton neighborhood. A North Carolina man, Luis Sepulveda Vasquez, was accused of pulling out a gun and shooting him. State police arrested him soon after during a motor vehicle stop on Interstate 95.
In August, three men were shot in a shooting that left casings all over an area of June Street on the edge of the Chad Brown complex. One of the men, Jhensen Baldayac, later died at Rhode Island Hospital.
On a weekend night in the fall, the parents of 1-year-old twins were shot to death as they sat in a vehicle in Elmwood, near the Cranston line. Brian Fernandez, 29, and Sreylakh Ros, 30, were parents to other children, too. Two men, Miguel Perez, of Warwick, and Tyler Freeman, of Norton, Massachusetts, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
On Dec. 27, just a day after her birthday, an Elmwood woman was slain. Daphney Clairsainvil was fatally injured in a knife attack in Elmwood that also injured the 28-year-old's mother, Raysia Dupera, according to court records. Clairsainvil's brother, Wesny Clairsainvil, was charged with murder.
More stats on violent offenses and property crimes
The statistical compilation provided by the Police Department, which is preliminary, also shows 49 people robbed at gunpoint last year.
That number, too, is an increase – up from 40 in 2022. But it's substantially lower than the 92 such offenses recorded in 2018 and the 72 tabulated in 2019.
Assaults in 2023 were up 3% from 2022.
The total number of violent offenses, a category that includes robbery and sexual assaults, fell from 791 to 788, according to the report.
Property crimes declined 24%, with a 13% reduction in burglaries, a 30% reduction in motor-vehicle thefts and a 39% reduction in thefts from motor vehicles.
The statistics in the compilation are preliminary. Criminologists and other experts generally focus on longer-term trends, not yearly ups and downs, when they analyze crime statistics. The preliminary statistics from 2023 appear in line with statistics from 2022 showing a substantial reduction in crime from the previous decade.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Homicides in 2023 up slightly from historic low in 2022
