PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man who caused the crowd at a Providence street festival to scatter in panic when he fired a gun six times into the air has been sentenced to serve five years in prison, prosecutors say.
Michael Robertson, 25, of Providence, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to possession of a pistol without a license, possession of a firearm after a crime of violence, and firing in a compact area, the state attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Robertson was at the PVDFest last June when he took out a 9 mm pistol and fired it in the air before running away, authorities say. The gunfire caused the crowd to panic and run in multiple directions. Authorities say thousands of people were in the area. No one was struck.
Robertson was identified as the shooter through surveillance video.
Authorities did not say why he fired the gun, but said he did not appear to be targeting anyone.
“Firing a gun in the middle of a crowded event is more than just being foolish or reckless — people could have been killed,” state Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement.
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