PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence police say a sergeant shot and wounded a gang member who fired at him in South Providence early Saturday morning.
The police were called around 2 a.m. about a disturbance at Jovan's Lounge, 6 Portland St., when a sergeant and an officer in the Violent Crime Task Force saw a gang member walk to a vehicle, grab a gun and stick the weapon in his waistband, said Maj. David Lapatin.
As the officers approached, the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Duvall Carty, ran away, Lapatin said.
The police pursued, chasing him across Broad Street into the parking lot of J.D. Byrider, where Carty turned and fired a shot at Sgt. Curt Desautels, who was about 20 feet away, Lapatin said. The bullet missed the officer and hit a wall, Lapatin said.
Desautels returned fire, shooting four times and hitting Carty twice in the torso, Lapatin said. Carty was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he is undergoing surgery and expected to survive, Lapatin said.
Lapatin said Carty is under arrest, but the charges were not yet determined late Saturday morning. A .25 caliber handgun was recovered at the scene, Lapatin said.
Carty has been shot in the past in South Providence, in 2007 and in 2009. It's unclear if anyone was charged in those shootings. Carty has a record of drug and fireams charges, including a guilty plea in 2009 on felony assault. Carty took the plea after charges of firing a gun and illegally carrying a weapon were dismissed, and he was sentenced to serve six months, according to court records.
Desautels, a veteran officer and head of the Violent Crime Task Force, is on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated by the attorney general's office, state police and Providence police.
In 2004, Desautels shot a man who pointed a gun at him and refused to drop it; the suspect survived and a multi-agency investigation found Desautels was justified in the shooting.
Meanwhile, the police were seeking an emergency license board hearing Saturday afternoon to close the nightclub.