2 men get prison terms for shooting at Providence nightclub

Flow nightclub, is seen in a 2016 file photo. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Two Massachusetts men have been sent to prison for shooting up a Rhode Island nightclub they had previously been asked to leave, shooting one person in the back in the process, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Dajour Hutchins, 23, and Robert Sudue, 27, both of Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to assault and firearms charges, according to a statement from the office of state Attorney General Peter Neronha.

At separate hearings earlier this month, Hutchins was sentenced to 38 years in prison with 18 to serve and the balance suspended with probation, while Sudue was sentenced to 23 years behind bars with 13 to serve and the balance suspended with probation.

Both men had gone to Club Flow in Providence on Aug. 18, 2019, but were asked to leave by security, prosecutors said.

They returned with handguns, held employees at gunpoint before shooting multiple rounds both inside and outside of the club. Hutchins shot a patron who attempted to leave in the back, prosecutors said.

“The notion that an appropriate response to being asked to leave a nightclub is to shoot up the place is outrageous,” Neronha said in a statement. “This is 2021, not the Old West, notwithstanding the defendants’ apparent confusion otherwise.”