Ex-Cop Responsible for Firefighter’s Death

This weekend, in Cranston, a child’s birthday party turned out really bad as two neighbors got into a dispute that ended up with one’s death.

Nicholas Gianquitti, a former Providence police officer, shot his neighbor, James Pagano, a firefighter, on Sunday. He was arrested without the possibility of being bailed out. Police has charged him with murder.

According to Boston Globe, Cranston Police Chief Stephen McGrath said the shooting occurred at Gianquitti's home.

The story so far is that some of the kids from the birthday party had managed to get into the former police man’s yard. Gianquitti got upset and got into a fight with Pagano. The fight got more and more serious up to the point that Gianquitti allegedly grabbed a gun and shot Pagano dead.

Cranston Fire Chief James Gumbley said that Pagano was a well-respected member of the fire department. He had a wife and two children.

According to Boston Globe, a neighbor told WJAR-TV that Gianquitti disliked it when children were playing in his yard and, allegedly, he used to take their balls when they wondered on his lawn.

Gianquitti served the police in 1992 and 1993 when he fractured his knee during a chase. He went on disability.

The neighbors are in shock. How could someone who apparently served the law by protecting others do something like this? It seems the wolrd turned upside down and a cop became a criminal.