Edward Acquisto, 80

Tiverton, Rhode Island
June 13, 2016

Agencies: Tiverton Police Department Rhode Island

Cause of death: Shooting


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

An elderly man killed a man in Pocasset Hill Cemetery in Tiverton Monday night, June 13, 2016, before leading police on a chase back to a Ford Farm Road house where he fired at officers, who fired back, killing him.

Tiverton Police Chief Thomas Blakley said that three officers were shot at by the suspect in a driveway. No officers were struck, though two Tiverton officers and a Fall River officer were transported to a nearby hospital according to protocol.

Police say a dispute over an unpaid loan was the motive for Acquisto to kill the man in the cemetary, the act which precipitated his death. According to police, Edward Acquisto had taken out a “significant” loan in 2011 from a church in Kingston, Massachusetts. Police said parishioner John Cloud met him June 13 in Pocasset Hill Cemetery to discuss it, and Acquisto shot him to death among the gravestones.

Legal Action

A statewide grand jury found the officers were justified in the shooting of 80-year-old Acquisto.