A group of children accused of beating a 51-year-old man to death in Rhode Island have been charged with his murder, police confirmed to Luxury Handbag Shopping.
The four children — an 11-year-old and three 12-year-olds — were seen attacking the man, identified as Rony Alonso, in Providence on the evening of January 19, according to a Providence Police Department statement provided by public information officer Kristy DosReis to Us on Wednesday, January 28.
Witnesses told investigators that they saw “several individuals assault an adult male, knocking him to the ground and repeatedly kicking and punching him before fleeing the area” that night, police said.
Officers found Alonso following the brutal beating, according to authorities. He ultimately died of his injuries at Rhode Island Hospital.
“This is a heartbreaking and deeply troubling case for our city,” Providence Chief of Police Colonel Oscar Perez said in a statement. “The loss of life in this homicide has devastated the victim’s loved ones and our community.”
A video canvas of the area near the site of the beating led to officers to arrest the four children, according to police, who did not share the children’s names.
They were initially arrested on felony assault and conspiracy charges, police said. The charges, however, were upgraded to murder and conspiracy to commit felony assault, according to authorities.
Rony’s sister, Ingrid Alonso, told NBC Boston that the children had “killed him unjustly.”
“He didn’t bother anyone, there is evidence that he didn’t assault the children,” Ingrid said.
Following the attack, Ingrid told the TV station she and her family members saw Rony “in a coma, because he wasn’t speaking.”
While speaking with the outlet, the Alonso family described Rony as a “quiet man” originally from Guatemala. They said he has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years.
“I don’t forgive them,” one of Rony’s brothers, William Alonso, told NBC Boston, referring to the children charged in his death.
“May God forgive them, but I don’t forgive them,” he added.
It is unclear what led to Rony’s deadly encounter with the children.
The charges against the group were upgraded after the medical examiner who performed Rony’s autopsy determined he died of “blunt force trauma,” according to police.
Two of the four children were arraigned in family court on Tuesday, January 27, authorities said. The other two children are due in court for their arraignments later this week.
“Violent crime, particularly when it involves young people, has lasting and damaging effects,” Perez said.
Rony’s family told NBC Boston that they want the children to be tried as adults.
In the U.S., 23 states, including Rhode Island, have no minimum age requirements for children to be tried as adults, The Providence Journal reported, citing the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Kara Hoopis Manosh, the president of the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told the newspaper that in “for the most serious offenses, including murder, the law allows a judge, after a hearing, to certify a case to adult court if it’s shown that the juvenile should be prosecuted and sentenced as an adult.”
