Biniam Tsegai

In the early hours of January 16, 2022, a night out in Providence, Rhode Island, turned fatal for Biniam Tsegai, a 35-year-old Black man from Portland, Maine. The incident, which marked the city’s first homicide of the year, also left a second man, 28-year-old Merhawi Berhe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, seriously wounded. The two men had just left an unlicensed after-hours establishment, sometimes called a "sipjoint," located in a basement at the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Potters Avenue.

Just before 3 a.m., Tsegai and Berhe were on the street when they were approached by another group of men. Surveillance footage later showed the two groups crossing paths, and a verbal exchange quickly escalated into a physical altercation. One of the men in the opposing group pulled a firearm from his waistband and fired multiple times at Tsegai and Berhe before fleeing the scene.

When police responded, they found Tsegai on the ground and Berhe inside a car, both suffering from several gunshot wounds. Emergency personnel transported them to Rhode Island Hospital, where Tsegai was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m. Berhe underwent surgery and recovered from his injuries. At the scene, investigators recovered eight .380 shell casings. Six months later, a gun that matched the casings was found near an interstate exit in Pawtucket; it was later determined to have been stolen from New Hampshire.

In the weeks that followed the shooting, authorities announced several arrests. A male from Fall River, Massachusetts, was identified as the suspected gunman and taken into custody. Two other men, 26-year-old Brendan Bindig of Fall River and 25-year-old Jeffrey Sek of Attleboro, Massachusetts, were also apprehended and charged as accomplices.

The shooter was identified as Je'avonie Dorvil of Fall River. Following a 10-day trial in Providence County Superior Court, a jury convicted Dorvil on April 14, 2026. He was found guilty of second-degree murder, two counts of discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury, carrying a pistol without a license, and possession of a stolen firearm.

On July 30, 2026, Je'avonie Dorvil was sentenced for the murder of Biniam Tsegai. He received a life sentence, which was ordered to run consecutively to a separate 60-year sentence, with 40 years to serve, for the related charges.