Late Thursday afternoon in Providence, a 29-year-old woman from Vernon, Connecticut, identified as Morgan Lynn Boss, was found fatally shot inside a home on Broad Street. Providence police say she suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after officers arrived.
The suspect, Kelvin Mendez Cruz, 26, of Providence, was arrested and charged the next day. According to authorities, Cruz is facing domestic murder and using a firearm resulting in death charges — the latter classified as a crime of violence.
Court documents describe Boss and Cruz as “intimate partners,” suggesting the tragic incident stemmed from a deeply personal relationship. At his arraignment in Providence County District Court, Cruz did not enter a plea — standard procedure for felony cases — and was held without bail, as prosecutors requested.
The shooting occurred just before 5 p.m. at a triple-deck home located at 1003 Broad Street, according to police. When they arrived, officers say they found Boss on the second floor, gravely wounded. Neighbors and workers in nearby shops told reporters that everything seemed normal until the sudden flurry of police activity.
Providence detectives are still investigating what led to the deadly shooting. No detailed motive has been publicly released, but police have confirmed the case is being treated as a homicide. The next court date for Cruz is scheduled for November 21, when a status conference will be held.
This incident marks only the second homicide in Providence this year, according to local crime-data tracking. The low number of homicides has been attributed in part to recent policing initiatives, such as the city’s “real-time crime center,” which gives detectives live access to dozens of camera feeds across Providence.
As the community reels from this tragedy, the case raises broader concerns about intimate-partner violence and gun access. Domestic violence advocates note that when a partner has access to a firearm, the risk of lethal violence increases dramatically — a sobering reality underscored by local and national statistics.
In the coming days, more details may emerge as investigators piece together what happened and why. But for now, this loss has left a family mourning, a city shaken, and a sobering reminder of the dangers that can lurk behind closed doors.
