‘It’s just unnerving’: Johnston triple shooting leaves residents feeling unsettled

May 25, 2023 12:15 pm

Anthony Vega, Alyssa Azzara,

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — “It’s like a scene out of a movie, I’ve never seen anything like that here, like it doesn’t happen,” said Lisa Ricci, a Johnston resident who lives in a nearby home from where a triple shooting that left two people dead took place.

The shooting happened at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on Ligian Court.

Ricci said she feels unsettled after the shooting. She dropped her daughter off at the bus stop close by just 20 minutes before the murders.

“She’s 13, so I trust her. Then, my neighbor calls me, who is behind the house, and she starts telling me what’s going on. It’s just unnerving,” she told ABC 6 News.

The Johnston resident’s 11-year-old daughter was home alone waiting on the babysitter to take her to school.

“I left my daughter there alone. I don’t think I’m going to do that anymore, what if something happened? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” explained Ricci.

Police said two people were killed in the shooting and a 15-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect was identified as 52-year-old James Harrison.

“My daughter-in-law says she used to walk around here. A lot of people walk around here with dogs and stuff,” said Patricia Giardinia, another Johnston resident.

Cranston Police Col. Michael Winquist an off-duty dispatcher was at St. Ann Cemetery in Cranston and spotted the suspect and vehicle. Police then responded.

Harrison then drove at them head-on, nearly hitting them, said Winquist. A chase then started and went into Cranston, Johnston, and Providence.

“He was traveling the wrong way down Plainfield Pike. He was on the opposite side of the road and jumped the center median behind me,” explained Winquist.

He said Harrison, 52, lost control of the car and hit a rock on the Johnston-Cranston line near the Interstate 295 overpass. That’s when police asked him to get out of the car.