A teenager previously arrested in a fatal shooting at the Worcester State University campus in October has now been charged with murder, prosecutors said Thursday as they filed charges against two other men in the incident.
The shooting prompted an extended lockdown at the campus on Oct. 28; videos would circulate on social media showing the early morning confrontation in a university parking lot. Kevin Rodriguez, 18, was arrested days later in New York on suspicion of armed assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm.
A Worcester County grand jury on Wednesday brought charges including murder against Rodriguez, District Attorney Joseph Early announced Thursday. The Lawrence man is due to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on Jan. 12 to face the murder charge as well as charges of possession of a loaded firearm not at home or work and possession of a firearm not at home or work.
The grand jury brought charges of armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping against two other men, 19-year-old Richard Nieves, of Spencer, and 20-year-old Kenneth Doelter, of Southbridge, prosecutors said.
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Nieves was also indicted on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, possession of a loaded firearm not at home or work and possession of a firearm not at home or work, prosecutors said.
The shooting left 19-year-old Randy Armando Melendez Jr., of Southbridge, dead and a 21-year-old man in the hospital with injuries that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Authorities have said it started with a confrontation between two groups of people who were visiting the university and were not students.
It wasn't immediately clear if any of the three men indicted Wednesday had attorneys who could speak to the charges.
The investigation into the shooting continued as of Thursday.
