Local police didn’t want him to have guns. He was allowed to buy them anyway. Then he killed his wife — and himself. - The Boston Globe (2024)

Francis had been arrested for disorderly conduct. He’d threatened suicide. He drove erratically, causing an accident, and when he was arrested, Francis threatened the officer, exposed himself, and urinated in the back seat of a cruiser. The Johnston police denied his request for a permit to carry a concealed weapon because he lied on his application. And, Francis had been charged with cyber-harassment of a woman, a misdemeanor.

After looking at the scope of Francis’ past contacts with other law enforcement agencies, Hopkinton Police Chief Mark Carrier told the Globe, “we saw a pattern with his character flaws, temper, and mental health issues.”

The police denied Francis’ applications to buy guns in 2020 and 2021, Carrier said. But Francis fought back, and hired a lawyer: Frank Saccoccio, the president and lobbyist of the Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition.

Saccoccio got the cyberstalking charge expunged, clearing the way for Francis to buy firearms. Without that charge, there was no legal standing for denying his applications as long as the questions on it were answered truthfully. His mental health could not prevent him from owning a gun unless he had been involuntarily committed or a court had determined that he was a danger to himself or others.

“Town Solicitor Kevin McAllister advised that nothing on his record would prohibit it, so we had to proceed with approval,” Carrier said. McAllister, who has since retired, did not respond to a request for comment.

Francis started buying firearms. And last weekend, he used one of them to kill his estranged wife, Stephanie Francis, and then himself.

Saccoccio had no comment about the killings.

The police chief told the Globe they’d tried to prevent this. Less than two months ago, on May 20, officers seized two pistols and 16 illegal large-capacity gun magazines from Francis’ home, after Francis allegedly shoved his wife and smashed her cellphone during a violent argument in front of their two adolescent children.

Francis was “aggressive” and “uncooperative,” swearing at the officers when they arrived, according to the police report. He reeked of alcohol and stormed away, but stopped when a police sergeant threatened to tase him. Francis told police he had smashed the cellphone because he was angry his wife was looking to meet other men on an online dating site. He also admitted that he’d been on an online dating site for several years.

Stephanie Francis, 44, told police that she and her husband were in the process of getting a divorce but still living together. She said he’d attacked her because she had saved the report of his arrest for cyber-harassment of another woman and was going to show it to the children to explain why they were divorcing.

The police seized the two pistols and the loaded gun magazines, but Stephanie Francis told them that her husband also owned long guns, which weren’t in the house. She said she did not know where they were.

The police arrested Joseph Francis, 45, charging him with owning illegal gun magazines and various domestic violence offenses. Francis was released on his own recognizance and ordered not to have any contact with his wife. The judge also wanted Francis monitored for mental health and alcohol abuse, and ordered him to give up all of his guns.

None were turned in.

Just before midnight on July 5, the chief said, Francis went to the home and unlocked the back door. He left his key in the lock and went looking for his wife.

Their children and a neighbor child were there, having a sleepover. Francis got into a fight with his wife, and then shot her with a shotgun. He fled as one of the children called 911.

Hopkinton police and State Police searched all night for Francis, putting out an alert to other law enforcement warning that he was wanted for the murder of his wife and was armed and dangerous.

Then, just before 11 a.m. Saturday, Westerly police spotted him driving his black Chevrolet Suburban on Route 78. He sped away.

A half-hour later, police saw him speeding up Route 2 in Charlestown, and gave chase. He avoided them, going so fast that he missed the turn at the intersection of Dawley Park and Nooseneck Hill Road in Richmond. The SUV shot across the northbound lanes and rolled, coming to rest on its roof. The police from Charlestown and Richmond waited for backup from the State Police.

When they did approach, they found Francis dead. He died from a shotgun blast to his mouth, according to the state medical examiner’s office.

‘She was someone people would like’

At the Wood River Bar and Grill, in the nearby village of Wyoming, Kary Church heard the wail of sirens, as one cruiser after another flew by on the main road Saturday morning.

Church and another server were opening the restaurant for the day. “I said to the other girl, what the hell is going on in town?” Church recalled.

They were also wondering why their fellow server, Stephanie Francis, hadn’t shown up to work and wasn’t answering their text messages.

That wasn’t like her, Church said.

Francis came to Wood River about six months ago, on the recommendation of another employee, said co-owner Jim Larisa. She’d been a stay-at-home mother for her two children for years, but she was looking for work. She didn’t have experience, but Larisa had a good feeling about her.

“We are a small family restaurant, and we have a lot of people who don’t have a lot of experience,” Larisa said. “We just chatted and you could just tell that she was someone people would like.”

Francis was quiet at first, Larisa said, but then she warmed up as she got to know people, and became bubbly and friendly. She was the kind of person who the rest of the staff enjoyed being around, and she was quick to do anything that was needed.

About an hour into the shift, Church texted Larisa. “I said, Stephanie isn’t here, and I’m really concerned.” Larisa said he was on the way.

When he arrived, he and his partner, Troy Boucher, told the staff their co-worker and friend was dead.

The younger server burst into tears. Church said she was left numb.

“We knew that things were bad and that things were very toxic, and we know she was getting away from it. . . . but we had no idea this was possible,” Church said. The children are now living with their grandparents, police said.

The state law that led local police to flag Joseph Francis as dangerous had been sparked by a deadly mass shooting in Westerly, one town over from Hopkinton, in 2019. The man in that case was able to buy guns even though he’d been considered “homicidal and suicidal.” The Westerly police were familiar with him, but didn’t know he’d applied to buy guns.

In 2020, the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed the law to have the applications for firearm purchases submitted to the police department where the buyer lives, on the theory that the local police could be able to consider any safety issues.

In the case of Joseph Francis, the police tried to prevent potential violence, Carrier said. “These are tough decisions,” he said, “but when tragic things like this happen, people want everyone held accountable.”

Until Friday night, there hadn’t been a homicide in Hopkinton in 13 years. Now, he said, the community is shattered.

“It’s just a tragic event. There’s no winners,” the chief said. “She’s dead and he’s dead, and there were children who were witnesses.”

Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.