Providence man found guilty in deadly shooting at auto repair shop

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Providence man was found guilty in a deadly shooting at an auto repair shop in 2021, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Phillip Manners, 44, was found guilty of one count of second-degree murder, one count of discharging a firearm while in the commission of a crime of violence with death resulting, one count of possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a crime of violence, and one count of possession of a firearm without a license.

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said Manners was found guilty after a two-week trial earlier this month.

Phillip Manners appears in court on a second degree murder charge in 2021. (WLNE file image)

He was currently being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institution pending a sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said Manners met 31-year-old Joshua Costa at a garage on Harris Avenue in Providence on April 15, 2021. The following day, the two men met at about 1 p.m. when Costa showed a gun and took a bag belonging to Manners, which prosecutors say contained narcotics.

Costa ran off with the bag and Manners chased after him and fired several shots, killing him.

Video surveillance footage from outside the garage showed Manners leave through the office door after the shooting.