Man behind bars in Barrington’s first violent crime in decades

February 3, 2017 5:45 pm

For the first time in decades, Barrington had a violent crime – a shooting that the Attorney General’s Office says was likely drug-related.

Police say Robert Fonseca shot the victim right outside of his home in Barrington.

A district court judge Doubling the recommended bail, Holding Fonseca on $50,000 with surety on charges including assault with intent to commit murder.

Around 5:30 Thursday night police say Fonseca showed up to the victim’s home on Maple Avenue, which happens to be right next to a church.

The two, who police believe hadn’t met before, got into a petty argument. "It was more of an insult," said Barrington Police Captain Dino DeCrescenzo.

Fonseca fired 3 shots, at least one hitting the victim in the stomach.

Police say the young man who was shot wasn’t cooperating with police. But luckily, witnesses helped investigators, alerting them to a black BMW which, with the help of East Providence Police, was tracked down to Fonseca’s Rumford address.

Just hours later, Barrington Chief John LaCross says, he was in cuffs.

"To solve this shooting – an attempted murder at 5:30 pm – and the person was in custody and provided information that he was connected to the shooting at 10:15pm."

He credited the collaboration amongst officers from his town, East Providence, and Pawtucket with helping to solve their first violent crime involving a gun in decades.

Town Manager James Cunha agreed. "From the town of Barrington from the citizens of Barrington – thank you all for that you’ve done"

Police didn’t release any information about the victim besides that he was a young man and went through surgery but is now in stable condition. They said he wasn’t being cooperative with investigators.