Suspects lead Providence police on chase after home invasion

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Two Providence men were arrested in connection with an armed home invasion Monday night that left a resident injured and ended in a chase through city streets, police said.

Rudy Sepulveda, 21, and Darling Rodriguez, 21, were charged with burglary, felony assault and conspiracy, Commander Thomas Verdi said.

Verdi said officers were sent to 125 Carolina Ave. for a report of an armed home invasion at about 9 p.m. Police responding to the scene then chased a white Nissan Rogue that several suspects had reportedly gotten into.

Police searched for the Rogue, and at one point, a patrolwoman had to swerve her vehicle to avoid being struck head-on, Verdi said. "Several" people later bailed out of the vehicle and fled on foot on Ruskin Street, police said.

After getting a report that someone was in the rear yard of a Melrose Street home, police searched and found Sepulveda there. He was taken into custody, police said. He had a silver Apple iPhone, a black phone and a set of keys with a Nissan key, police said.

Other officers holding a perimeter at Washington Street and Hamilton Street spotted Rodriguez walking out of a driveway on Washington Street, police said. Police found two bags of marijuana and gave him a summons for possession of less than an ounce, police said.

A search also turned up a cellphone and mask, police said.

Police said three people in the Carolina Avenue apartment told them several people kicked in the lower-level door to their building and went up to their second-floor apartment. Someone pointed a firearm at them, and a 23-year-old was hit in the head with it, police said. The 23-year-old was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment.

Police did not say how many suspects might still be at large in the home invasion.

City police dealt with a spate of home invasions over the summer, but quietly made progress in some of the cases, making arrests and already resulting in at least one criminal sentence.