On Monday evening around 6:45 p.m., law enforcement responded to a distress call at 411 Rathbun Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and discovered a horrifying scene: inside an upstairs apartment three people lay fatally wounded from gunfire.
The victims were identified as 40-year-old Kimberly Pieranuzi, 45-year-old Donald Roderick Jr. and 24-year-old Sean Rivera. All three succumbed to their injuries at the scene or shortly after arrival at the hospital.
According to the investigation, the apartment was home to Pieranuzi, her partner Roderick, Pieranuzi’s 19-year-old daughter and that daughter’s boyfriend, Rivera. That night the daughter and Rivera were reportedly discussing their troubled relationship when Rivera produced a firearm and demanded sexual favors.
The 19-year-old woman told investigators that the boyfriend then sexually assaulted her. She fled to her mother’s room seeking refuge. Rivera is said to have followed and shot Pieranuzi in that room. Meanwhile, Roderick returned home from work, discovered the chaos and was shot by Rivera. In the final act, Rivera turned the gun on himself.
Police say the 19-year-old was able to escape the apartment and call law enforcement from a nearby business. Once officers arrived, they recovered a firearm from the scene, which later was traced to being stolen from Maine.
Authorities from the Woonsocket Police Department emphasized that this was a contained domestic incident involving only those inside the residence and there is “no active threat to the public.”
For the neighborhood on Rathbun Street, the impact is jarring. Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing the area taped off as the investigation unfolded. It serves as a stark reminder that violence can erupt quietly, behind closed doors.
As investigations continue, authorities are piecing together the timeline and motives, but the broader chilling truth remains: a young woman’s plea for escape, a gun stolen across state lines, a mother and father caught in the cross-fire—and a death toll of three because a troubled relationship turned deadly.