(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Providence, R.I.) - It’s hard to imagine what this family must be going through, trying to cope with the loss of a 14-year-old boy gunned down inside his home.
“He opens the door they just started shooting at him. No kid should go through this,” said friend Luis Gonzalez.
Friends gathered on this Sumter Street stoop in South Providence. Inside the doorway, there is a photo of a smiling 14-year-old boy in good times and below are candles that mark the tragedy that needs no reminder.
Joel Figuereo is the capital city's 12th homicide of the year. He was shot to death as he answered this door at 12:30 Monday morning.
He was expecting it to be a friend. Police do not think he was the target.
His Aunt Ivelisse Figuereo told us she can't explain why he had to die.
She said he was so young and that there are many bad people in the streets.
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Joel was an eighth grader at Esek Hopkins Middle School, one of six children who came here with their mother from the Dominican Republic a few years ago.
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras stopped by to extend his condolences to Joel's mother.
The mayor grew up just a few houses away.
“It is unacceptable, it is something we cannot tolerate as a city, as a state, as a country, as a civilized society,” Mayor Taveras said.
He was joined by public safety officials at a morning press conference, decrying the attack, and pleading for the public's help in finding the masked gunman.
“People are afraid to come forward for whatever reason and we're asking them to have faith and trust in their police department and come forward and that's the only way we can break this cycle,” said Commissioner Steven Pare, head of the Providence Public Safety Commission.
Family told NECN that Joel's mother now wants to move with the kids back to the Dominican Republic.
This all while the police search for his killer continues.
