Rhode Island

2 Killed, 15-Year-Old Girl Injured in RI Shooting; Police Say Suspect is Also Dead

Authorities said they believe the shooting was the result of a domestic and neighborhood dispute

WJAR

Police say a man killed two people and injured one other in a shooting in Johnston, Rhode Island, on Wednesday morning.

The shooter, identified by police as 52-year-old James Harrison was later shot and killed by police after leading them on a car chase.

Police said Harrison initally fatally shot an adult around 7:30 a.m. at his home on Ligian Court, according to WJAR. He then fatally shot a second adult and shot and injured a 15-year-old girl at another address on the same street.

About two hours later, police said an off-duty police dispatcher spotted Harrison seated in his vehicle at St. Ann Cemetery in neighboring Cranston. Multiple Cranston police officers responded to the cemetery and when they arrived the suspect drove at them head-on, nearly striking their vehicles.

He was then pursued through multiple towns by Cranston and Providence police, with the chase coming to an end at the Interstate 295 on-ramp on the Plainfield Pike on the Johnston/Cranston line. As Harrison drove, police said he swerved at several police vehicles, striking one Cranston police cruiser. He eventually lost control of his vehicle and struck a rock, disabling the vehicle.

Police ordered him out of the car, but when he got out and pointed a gun at them, he was shot and killed by police.

Several police officers were hospitalized as a precaution, police said, but none were believed to have been seriously injured.

The section of the Plainfield Pike where the shooting occurred was shut down Wednesday afternoon, along with the exits from I-295.

Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. said in a tweet around 10 a.m. that "the danger to the public is over."

Police said they believe the initial shooting was the result of a domestic and neighborhood dispute.

The victims of that shooting have not been identified.

The Rhode Island Attorney General's Office is investigating the use of deadly force by police, and body camera video and video from a witness will be used as part of that inquiry.

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