What do you think would be the best punishment in this tragic case?

When Nicholas Gianquitti moved to Daisy Court in 2005, he entered a model of quiet suburbia, where all the split-levels came with backyard fences and neat yards and children played in the cul-de-sac.


One problem: Gianquitti seemed at odds with the neighborhood children.


Their balls were always bouncing across his lush lawn or hitting his polished car.


Gianquitti complained about this last year to a friend from his old neighborhood, Oakwind Terrace.


The kids’ balls “were always banging his cars,” recalled Ron Silvestri of his conversation with Gianquitti. “They were brand new cars and he didn’t like his cars being ruined.”


Gianquitti, a slight man who drew a disability pension from the few months in the early 1990s when he served as a Providence police officer, complained to his neighbors on Daisy Court as well. And parents there and on the adjacent cul-de-sac, Lily Drive, warned their children to keep clear of the man with the tuft of orange hair sprouting from his chin.


On Sunday, Gianquitti’s next-door neighbors, James and Adriana Pagano, hosted a birthday party for their young son. Some kids were playing in the street and, neighbors say, Gianquitti, who is 40, came out yelling and swearing at them when a ball struck his car.


Pagano, 44, a Cranston firefighter for 15 years who had been officially promoted to lieutenant just last week, rushed over to confront Gianquitti.


The confrontation led to punches and then, with children and others watching, the scene turned surreal.


Witnesses reported hearing several shots and seeing Pagano, lying in the street, mortally wounded. Many of his neighbors and relatives began calling 911. The time was around 3:15 p.m.


Yesterday, while a District Court judge ordered Gianquitti held without bail on a charge of murder, police investigators probed the dirt and leaves blown against the sidewalk outside Gianquitti’s home at 16 Daisy Court, searching for evidence and trying to piece together a neighborhood killing.


Law enforcement officials say Gianquittihad been licensed to carry a concealed weapon since 1993 when he left the Providence police force after six months after suffering a knee injury.


Police confiscated several rifles and pistols from his home following the shooting.


McGrath said some of the gunshots may have been fired from inside Gianquitti’s house and others from outside.


Pagano grew up in the Garden City section of Cranston and graduated from Providence College in 1989. After college, he served as an aide in former Cranston Mayor Michael A. Traficante’s office before joining the Fire Department in February 1991. He was promoted to lieutenant in January, taking part in a department-wide promotions ceremony just last week. Married to Adriana Pagano, a part-time hairdresser, he had a daughter and a son. He was an avid golfer and a big Red Sox fan, known for cooking veal and mushrooms at the fire station and laughing easily.


Sunday afternoon at Fire Station Three, where Pagano had worked for some 15 years before a recent promotion and transfer, Lt. Mike Procopio and Firefighter Ray Giguere heard the call of a man shot on Daisy Court and sped to the scene.


They did not know, yet, it was their friend. But they were concerned.


“We knew it was his street,” Procopio said, in an interview at the station yesterday.


Gianquitti, married with a teenage daughter, had retreated to inside his house by the time the police arrived. And with reports of an armed man inside, officers initially cordoned off the street, with even the paramedics restricted to the perimeter.


Police took Gianquitti from the scene without incident, the chief said, along with his wife and his daughter.


McGrath said the department has 15 officers from the detective division working on the case, including three from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is examining forensic evidence from the crime scene.


In May 2006, Gianquitti filed a formal complaint with the Cranston police of kids in the neighborhood playing with hardballs.


He wanted to get it on record, the chief said, in case there was damage to his property at some point.

What do you think would be the best punishment in this tragic case?
Since the man did not go to jail, then he needs to be removed from the subdivision because he is a nuisance to the neighbor hood.
Reply:If you are a juror, then you need to make your own decision or talk to the other jurors. Don%26#039;t make your decision based on feedback from internet strangers that have read a few little paragraphs about the case. It%26#039;s not responsible of you to be influenced by outside sources,....I also don%26#039;t think it%26#039;s legal either to even talk about the case.





On another note, my opinion is that in the end it is murder and the guy should go to prison for life.
Reply:He has shown that he cannot be allowed out in society. He should get life without parole.
Reply:This is terrible. Both sides are at fault. The terrible ideals of limited freedom have failed us again.





His guns should be taken away and he should be banished from the state.





The kids can be left off easy.
Reply:Life +1year!
Reply:Murder second degree
Reply:Interesting. Pagano the firefighter would probably have been more than a match for Gianquitti, a %26quot;slight man who drew a disability pension%26quot;. It%26#039;s possible that Gianquitti acted, or believed that he was acting, in self-defense. He clearly believed himself to be in the right as far as his rant against the children is concerned. The property damage justifies his anger and frustration.
Reply:Murder, plain and simple. 15 - Life
Reply:Well,I think the guy Guianetti should obviously spend a long time in jail for taking the life of Pagano.. This is a horrible thing to have happened to what seems like a decent hardworking man.
Reply:i don%26#039;t think that the guy should have been shot, BUT I would be pissed off too if kids kept hitting my car and making all kinds of ruckus
Reply:Not in Texas! I would have shot the guy too. You should see what I do to the kids that mow my lawn while mowing the neighbors weeds! I own a shotgun and IT%26quot;S LOADED!





Don%26#039;t fu%26amp;^% with my Truck!





Fighting happens. Guns are always raised, but I would have done something different with the kids. Here, the cops will hold your children down while you spank them, if you ask!





Those kids should have been held accountable for pissing him off in the first place!





Sorry, it%26#039;s Texas. You shoot me, I will shoot you back!





yes, it%26#039;s loaded.
Reply:There%26#039;s not enough information - and it%26#039;s obviously written with a biased slant. Sorry, but there%26#039;s no way to make a just evaluation from the available information.
Reply:ughh..charge him with first degree murder of course
Reply:Oh, what a psychopath. I feel SO sorry for that family, and for all the kids that had to witness that! What an awful scene..... :(





I think the lowlife should get life in prison. I think the Death penalty is too nice, their suffering is put to an end. Let them rot away to a fine old age, including whoever was shooting from indoors, if they get solid proof of that.





Those poor, poor kids.... The son will have a very VERY hard time on his birthday for the rest of his life. That makes me so mad.....
Reply:it dosent matter if the ball damaged his car, his reaction was uncalled for and should be punished for the max.
Reply:If someone came out and attacked me for complaining to children about hitting my car, I wouldn%26#039;t hesitate to defend my life either.
Reply:I think this is a terrible tragedy. The car guy....he has some serious problems. If he could afford the nice new cars, why couldn%26#039;t he %26quot;afford%26quot; to build him an extra addition to his garage, or build a new one or what ever he needed to do to accommodate his %26quot;property%26quot;.


Better yet, if you %26quot;love%26quot; your %26quot;possessions%26quot; more than you value human life, take your crap and MOVE .


He doesn%26#039;t deserve to have neighbors and neighbors don%26#039;t deserve him.





I have a pretty nice car, it is older but in very good condition. 96 sebring con. I really like my car, but the other day when all the kids,some mine,some neighbors%26#039;, were out in the yard playing ball, the thought just didn%26#039;t cross my mind to try to shoot anyone when my car got hit ! I was thinking more along the lines....hmmmmm..I might want to move my car.





There is no excuse for what this man did. He totally put an object above a human life.





I know for a fact he could have done things differently and should have.





He showed No mercy and is very,very shallow. Whom ever is in charge of giving him his punishment,I hope keeps this in close mind.





It is so hard for me to understand how people can do the judging and sentencing because quiet frankly, you have to almost become the monster that the criminal is, for a moment.





I wouldn%26#039;t want that job.





I am so sorry for this senseless loss.



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