Providence Man Guilty Of Mother's Day Murder

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Providence man was found guilty of gunning down a guest at a Mother's Day party in 2023.

Luis Sepulveda, 53, was convicted of 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.

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The jury returned the guilty verdicts Thursday following a seven-day trial.

Sepulveda shot 44-year-old Angel Rodriguez in the chest while they were at a Mother's Day party on Manton Avenue in Providence.

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Police officers sent to investigate a report of a shooting shortly after 11 a.m. May 14, 2023, found Rodriguez on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest, according to a media release from the attorney general's office.

Rodriguez died at Rhode Island Hospital about a half hour after he was shot.

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He and Sepulveda had "argued earlier in the day, but resolved that dispute peacefully," according to the release.

Later that evening, at the Mother's Day party, a "fight broke out in the garage of the home, during which (Sepulveda) pulled a gun out of his bag, shot two rounds in the air, and then shot the (Rodriguez) in the chest," the release said. Sepulveda "subsequently fled the scene in a grey minivan. Rhode Island State Police troopers stopped the vehicle on Route 95 South and placed the defendant in custody."

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Troopers found a handgun in the driver’s door of Sepulveda’s car and located five shell casings at the crime scene, according to the release, and Sepulveda admitted to police he fired the gun.

"A ballistic analysis confirmed that the five shell casings found at the scene were fired from the handgun seized from the (Sepulveda's) car," the release said. "A primer gunshot residue analysis confirmed the presence of residue on the (his) hands, and a DNA analysis by the Rhode Island Department of Health found evidence of the (his) DNA on the firearm."

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