Cranston man charged after Providence shootout

PROVIDENCE — Police charged a Cranston man with carrying a gun after a shootout in Washington Park on Tuesday night.

Jason Fernandes, 33, of 302 Pontiac Ave., was arrested by officers investigating calls about people shooting multiple rounds at each other from a Subaru Outback and Chevy Trailblazer in the area of the Shell gas station at 1020 Narragansett Blvd.

No one was reported injured, and although witnesses said the shootout was closer to Broad Street and Washington Avenue, police didn’t find a crime scene.

However, a patrol officer did find one of the vehicles described in the shootout. Soon after the first call, a patrolman driving through Roger Williams Park saw Fernandes get out of a stolen blue Subaru on Farragut Avenue and run when he saw the officer, according to a police report.

Less than an hour later, police saw Fernandes come out of a house on Montgomery Avenue and head toward Roger Williams Park with a satchel in his hands, according to police.

This time, the officers stopped Fernandes. The police reported finding a mask around his neck and a loaded .32-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, and several live rounds, in the satchel.

Fernandes told police that someone shot at him at Eddy and Calla streets, around the same time the calls came in about the shootout near the gas station. Police found a shell casing in the middle of the intersection of Eddy and Calla streets.

Police checked the blue Subaru and discovered it had been reported stolen in Providence on Dec. 1. The license plates belonged to a Jeep, according to the report.

Fernandes, who has served time for stolen vehicles and stolen goods, was arraigned at District Court on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm. He was also wanted on bench warrants from District Court and Superior Court.