Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A former gang member who spent the past three months training to become a peacemaker at the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence was arrested Friday and charged with threatening his estranged girlfriend with a gun.

Noi Thao, 29, of 391 Farmington St., Cranston, was being held Saturday after he was booked on multiple criminal counts including domestic felony assault, possession of a firearm by an alien, possession of a firearm after a conviction of a crime violence and possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number.

An agent from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement also placed a detainer on him because there are questions about his residence status in this country.

Thao is Laotian and an ex-member of Laos Pride, a violent street gang based in the city's Smith Hill neighborhood.

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