Black Just Turned 18 Charged with Murder of White Army Vet

Providence Journal
July 21, 2015

U.S. Army veteran Colby Mendonca was stabbed to death by a 18-year-old Black.
U.S. Army veteran Colby Mendonca was stabbed to death by a 18-year-old Black.

A local man who just turned 18 is charged with the murder of an Army veteran and the stabbing of his friend in a Walgreens parking lot early Saturday.

Erico Montalvo, of 10 Pocasset Ave., wore no expression as he was led handcuffed into District Court early Friday morning to face the charges. The timing, coincidentally, was just before the funeral Mass for 26-year-old Colby Mendonca of Pawtucket.

Mendonca and his friend, Russell Gleason, 25, were in the parking lot behind the Walgreens at 533 Elmwood Ave. just before 2 a.m. when they got into an argument with strangers, according to police. The argument became a fight that left Gleason badly injured and Mendonca dead.

Erico Montalvo stabbed both men and killed one of them.
Erico Montalvo stabbed both men and killed one of them.

Special Assistant Attorney General Meg McDonough told Magistrate Joseph Ippolito that Montalvo admitted to Providence investigators that he’d been at the scene and had stabbed both men.

Montalvo was charged with murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, both felonies. No plea was entered, and the magistrate ordered Montalvo held without bail, pending a hearing on July 28.

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