Man charged after road rage incident

A Warwick man has been charged after witnesses said he fired three shots from a pellet gun at another motorist during a road rage incident Sunday evening.

Paul N. Pereira, 21, of Warwick, was charged by Warren police with two counts of possession of a weapon other than a firearm — one, a set of brass knuckles and two, a knife with a blade longer than three inches.

It all came about after police got a call just after 5 p.m. from a witness who had just crossed into Warren from Swansea on Route 136. He told officers that an Infiniti later determined to be driven by Mr. Pereria cut off another car as he pulled out of a liquor store just before the Route 6 intersection. That car in turn passed Mr. Pereira’s Infiniti after being cut off, and as he did so the witness told police that the the car’s driver fired three shots.

After getting the witness’s call Warren dispatchers put out a BOLO for the Infiniti and Mr. Pereira was pulled over near Malik’ Liquors. Though Warren police recovered two realistic-looking pellet guns in the car, they did not charge him with them as the shooting did not occur in Warren and it is not illegal to own them.

Apart from Mr. Pereira, police took five additional occupants of his car, two adults and three juveniles, into custody but later released all without charges.

Swansea police are investigating the incident and may file separate charges in that city.

— By Ted Hayes