WATERBURY, Connecticut — On Tuesday, a Connecticut man was sentenced to 33 years in jail for killing the mother of a Puerto Rican Olympic competitor with a stray bullet.
Jasper Greene, 23, of New Haven, was one of three men accused with the death of Mabel Martinez Antongiorgi on April 9, 2022. The 56-year-old woman was sewing at her house in Waterbury, some 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Hartford, when a bullet blasted through a wall and struck her in the head.
Martinez Antongiorgi’s daughter, Yarimar Mercado Martinez, represented Puerto Rico in rifle shooting in the Olympics in 2016, 2021, and 2024. Her mother was slain while she was in Brazil competing in another tournament.
Greene pleaded guilty to murder in February. His attorney did not immediately respond to an email for comment following Tuesday’s sentencing in Waterbury Superior Court.
According to court testimony, the deadly shooting resulted from an argument between one of the suspects, Franklin Robinson, and a man who said hello to his girlfriend. Robinson, Greene, and another man shot up a car parked on Martinez Antongiorgi’s street, believing the man was inside. A bullet entered Martinez Antongiorgi’s home. Another bystander was hurt but survived.
A jury convicted Robinson of murder and other counts in 2023, and he was sentenced to 90 years in jail.
The third defendant, Levi Brock, has pled not guilty to various charges in the case, including murder, and is awaiting trial.
At the time of her mother’s death, Mercado Martinez wrote on social media that she “couldn’t even say goodbye.”
“Why you?” “Why this way?” She wrote. “You were just sitting in your little house sewing, as you always did.”
Martinez Antongiorgi and her husband of over 30 years, John Luis Mercado, relocated to Waterbury from Puerto Rico a few years ago, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. When she died, they were planned to reaffirm their wedding vows, according to their daughter.
