Two Sentenced In Connection With Providence Nightclub Shooting

PROVIDENCE, RI — Two Massachusetts men have been sentenced to a combined 31 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions for their roles in a 2019 shooting at Club Flow in Providence.

Worcester residents Dajour Hutchins, 23, and Robert Sudue, 27, pleaded guilty in Providence County Superior Court to felony assault and firearms charges, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced today.

Prosecutors said that on August 18, 2019, Hutchins and Sudue entered the nightclub on Cranston Street and held employees at gunpoint before shooting multiple rounds inside and outside the nightclub, seriously injuring a patron.

Superior Court Justice Robert D. Krause on June 15 sentenced Hutchins to 38 years at the ACI with 18 years to serve and the balance suspended with probation. Separately, the court sentenced Sudue to 23 years at the ACI with 13 years to serve and the balance suspended with probation.

“If there was ever a case where long sentences were warranted, this is it. The notion that an appropriate response to being asked to leave a nightclub is to shoot up the place is outrageous,” said Neronha in a statement. “This is 2021, not the ‘Old West’, notwithstanding the defendants’ apparent confusion otherwise."

Neronha said on the night of the shooting, Hutchins and Sudue visited the nightclub but were asked to leave by security. The two went to their vehicles to retrieve handguns, and returned to confront club employees and hold them a gunpoint. A patron who attempted to run away was shot in the back by Hutchins. The two continued to shoot their guns and left in separate vehicles, Neronha said.

The victim was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, underwent emergency surgery, and recovered. Providence police led the investigation with assistance from Worcester police, Neronha's office said.