Webster man who accidentally shot coworker to death gets probation
Thinking the gun was unloaded, Yaimel Rosario-Rosado pointed it at Michael Fontaine in “jest,” prosecutors said.
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who accidentally shot and killed a coworker at a moving company using a shotgun he found while unloading a truck has received a suspended sentence with probation.
Yaimel Rosario-Rosado, 23, of Webster, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter stemming from the September 2019 death of Michael Fontaine, The Telegram & Gazette reported.
The men, who were friends, were unloading a truck at the New World Van Lines warehouse in Auburn when Rosario-Rosado came across a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun, prosecutors said.
Thinking the gun was unloaded, he pointed it at Fontaine in “jest” and pulled the trigger, prosecutors said.
Fontaine, 38, of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, died of a shotgun wound to the chest.
The prosecution asked for a five-year jail sentence.
But Rosario-Rosado’s attorney asked for probation, saying her client is a law-abiding person with no criminal record who was devastated by what happened.
The victim’s brother told the court that Rosario-Rosado is a “good person” who did not deserve jail time.
The judge sentenced Rosario-Rosado to 2 1/2 years in jail, all of it suspended for three years of probation. He could be sent to jail if he violates his probationary terms.
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