POLICE: DRUGS FUEL PROVIDENCE KILLINGS

It Is Difficult To Reduce The Number Of Homicides In The City Because Of
The Link Between Drugs And Guns, Police Officials Say.

PROVIDENCE -- A Providence man who was killed Wednesday in an Erastus
Street house was a key witness in an upcoming murder trial.

The shooting death of Eric Price, 32, was one of three killings in the city
this week that the Providence police say appear to be drug related. These
latest killings have pushed Providence's homicide rate up to 28 this year
- -- higher than last year's total of 26. Drugs are usually behind the
killings, the police say.

"We certainly try to stem the drugs and firearms," said Providence police
Maj. Martin F. Hames, "but we can't predict when a murder's going to take
place."

The availability of drugs and guns makes reducing the homicide rate
difficult, said Providence Commissioner of Public Safety John J. Partington.

"When you're talking drug-related crimes, it's unpredictable," Partington
said. "That's the whole problem with our society today. Drugs bring in guns."

Jay E. Robinson, a 19-year-old Providence man, was found shot to death
yesterday just before 1 a.m. in a parking lot at the corner of Providence
and Lockwood Streets. Hames said his death "appears to be drug related."

The police are also investigating the killing of Ernesto Ramos, a
19-year-old Providence man who was found shot to death Sunday night in a
South Providence area known for drug problems. Witnesses told the police
that Ramos sold "beat bags" -- bags of fake crack cocaine.

The police have said that the killing of Price, whose body was found in a
first-floor room in a house on Erastus Street, also appears to be drug
related. Michael Iasimone, 46, of an unknown address, who tried to get a
glimpse of the killers, was shot and wounded. He was treated at Rhode
Island Hospital and released Thursday afternoon.

Price was a key witness in a pending murder trial in Newport. In May, Price
was wounded and Charles Hopper, of Providence, was killed, in a shooting
outside a house in Newport's Tonomy Hill neighborhood.

Price was expected to testify against Carver K. Hedges, of Newport, in
April. Hedges has been charged with murder in Hopper's death, and with
intent to commit murder on Price. Hedges is being held at the Adult
Correctional Institutions, in Cranston, where he's serving a 10-year
sentence for cocaine delivery.

"[Price's] testimony was critical to their case, and now there's a void,"
said Christopher Gontarz, Hedges's court-appointed attorney.

Prosecutor Pamela Chin could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon.