On September 8, 2020, 24-year-old Jamal Vasquez was shot in the face and died after a confrontation outside a birthday party in Cranston, Rhode Island. Officers found him about 4:06 a.m. in a driveway on Harris Avenue; medical aid was rendered at the scene but he was pronounced dead. The city recorded its first homicide in 18 months.

Investigators say the sequence began when Vasquez drove a female friend to the party to confront another woman. A fight between the two women spilled into the street, and Vasquez stepped in. He was reportedly confronted by several men and, according to the investigation, drew a stolen handgun. Another man, identified as 23-year-old Jose Herpin of Providence, is alleged to have produced a handgun and fired once, striking Vasquez. Herpin fled in a dark-colored sedan and was later arrested on October 1, 2020, after a brief chase; he was arraigned on first-degree murder and related firearm charges.

In March 2021 a grand jury declined to indict Herpin on the murder charge but returned indictments for firearms and related offenses. The Cranston Police Chief said the department considered the case closed after reviewing the grand jury’s decision. Does anyone have information about the confrontation that led to Vasquez’s death or the people present that night?