SPRINGFIELD — A life sentence was handed down Tuesday for Anthony Potito, the Springfield man who shot his girlfriend in the face after he became convinced she gave him a sexually transmitted disease.
Potito, 56, pleaded guilty to killing Shanike “Nikki” Roldan, 28, and was sentenced in Hampden Superior Court, Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni announced Wednesday. On the second-degree murder count, Potito got life in state prison, with a chance at parole after 23 years.
For the lesser charges — including having a gun without a license and receiving stolen property — Potito received an additional seven years of incarceration, to be served concurrently with the time in prison for murder.
“This case is a tragic example of how substance use can spiral into unimaginable tragedy. Shanike Roldan was a young woman whose life was taken far too soon. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones as they continue to grieve this loss,” Gulluni said.
On Nov. 3, 2019, at 1:37 a.m., Springfield police were called to School Street, where a woman was unconscious and bleeding on the sidewalk. Responding officers found that Roldan had been shot in the head.
She was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where she later died.
Police spoke with a witness who identified Potito as the gunman. Surveillance video also had the crime recorded, in which Roldan was shot at twice from the driver’s side of a gray Toyota Avalon. That car turned out to be his mother’s sedan.
Potito and Roldan had been in an on-and-off relationship, the DA’s office said, and she was the mother of two of his children. Information retrieved from Potito’s phone showed that he accused Roldan of infidelity, as well as prostitution.
Rapidfire texts from Potito to Roldan stopped just before the murder.
“Well how about this, I’m going to go home and get my gun and kill you right now if I see you,” Potito’s message to Roldan read, according to the DA’s office.
Shortly after that message was sent, Roldan was gunned down.
Potito was arrested later that same day at his home, where they recovered a .44-caliber revolver, that had been fired twice.
