Have you seen these men? Here's the list of Rhode Island's most wanted fugitives

PROVIDENCE – Byron Valle and Douglas Leon were in a crowd of about 2,000 soccer fans gathered at Merino Park when they were shot to death in 1987.

Thirty-seven years later, police are still trying to find the man who pulled the trigger. The accused killer is Julio Merida, and he's among a small group of fugitives identified as "Rhode Island's Most Wanted."

Featured on a webpage maintained by the Rhode Island State Fusion Center at state police headquarters, each of the most-wanted fugitives has a story. But Merida is the only fugitive accused of killing two people.

Double homicide at a soccer game

Valle and Leon, both soccer fans, had been drawn to a rutted soccer pitch in Merino Park, behind the Hartford Park housing project, on Oct. 18, 1987. The festive atmosphere took a turn when a white car smashed into several vehicles parked next to the soccer pitch.

Drivers of the parked vehicles confronted the men who had been in the white car. The argument escalated into a brawl that pulled in 30 people.

Then came the gunshots.

Valle, whom police described as an innocent bystander, was standing with friends along the soccer field's sideline when a bullet hit him in the upper chest. He died at the scene.

"I heard bang, bang, bang, like firecrackers," one of Valle's friends, Jose Lopez, told The Providence Journal. "... I said, 'duck down' to everybody. It wasn't only Byron and me. There were a lot of people around in there. ... [The gunman] was just shooting everywhere."

The next thing Lopez knew, Valle was on the ground.

Leon had been sitting in one of the cars struck by the white car. After that, he had tried to be a peacemaker during the altercation, according to witnesses, who included his 16-year-old brother, Robert Leon.

"He raised his hands to try to fix things, saying, 'I don't want to fight,' and the guy shot him," Leon's younger brother said at the time, speaking in Spanish through a translator.

Shot in the face

Leon was shot in the face at close range. He was rushed to Roger Williams Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, investigators struggled to identify who had fired the shots. A man who was arrested and charged in the killings was later cleared.

Months later, in July 1988, a grand jury handed up an indictment that charged 29-year-old Julio Merida with two counts of murder. Authorities said they believed Merida had fled. He's been gone ever since.

State police warn: Call us, and take no action on your own

Merida is not the most wanted of Rhode Island's Most Wanted. No one is. The presentation of fugitives on the website is random, said Col. Darnell S. Weaver, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police. The fugitives, Weaver said, are wanted "for serious and often violent crimes."

"Their identities, photographs and information are posted on the Rhode Island State Police website to aid in their apprehension," Weaver said, adding that he encourages anyone with information about any of the fugitives to immediately contact the state police.

"Remember, attempting to take any action on your own should not be attempted, as it can be dangerous," he said. "Let us work together to ensure the swift and safe apprehension of these fugitives."

Who else is on the list of Rhode Island's Most Wanted?

As of Saturday, May 11, the list of Rhode Island's most wanted had seven people in addition to Merida on it.

They are:

Dennys P. Cabrera

Cabrera, now 40, is accused of shooting and killing Nairobi Acosta and wounding another person at an after-hours party at a house on Baxter Street in Providence in 2007. Cabrera may have fled to New York. He faces a charge of first-degree murder.

Jonathan D. Espinal

Espinal, who sometimes goes by "Pesao," is accused of shooting two men in a car parked outside the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in 2011. Espinal, now 34, was a member of a gang known as "Members of Pine," according to police, who say he may have fled to New York or Mexico. He faces a charge of felony assault with a firearm.

Ronald L. Fischer

Fischer, now 68, fled Rhode Island in 2005 during his trial in Newport. A Westerly woman accused the East Greenwich doctor of raping her on his 60-foot yacht, the Lion King, which was docked in Portsmouth.

Despite his absence after that, Fischer was found guilty of first-degree sexual assault. He still faces charges of failure to appear for trial and flight to avoid prosecution.

Sergio Salazar

In 2000, Salazar and two other men were arrested, charged and held in the death of William Sanchez, who had been abducted, taken to a ballfield and shot in the head in Providence's North End. But Salazar, now 49, was not indicted promptly enough. He made bail and fled. An indictment in 2003 charged him with first-degree murder.

Rigoberto Vasquez

Vasquez, now 62, is wanted by Central Falls police. He is accused of driving under the influence and fleeing the scene of a 2016 crash that killed 51-year-old Gary Laramie of Pawtucket. He faces a charge of DUI death resulting.

Alex Vigniero

Vigniero, who immigrated to the United States illegally, is wanted in a 2008 homicide in Providence, the police say. Now 49, he faces a charge of first-degree murder. He uses an alias of Luis Gonzalez-Caban and was last seen driving a blue 2000 Nissan Maxima.

John E. Nunez

Nunez, now 34, is wanted in the 2017 drive-by shooting death of 22-year-old Devin Burney. Burney was walking to a car on Corinth Street in South Providence and was shot as he shielded his girlfriend from gunfire. Nunez faces a charge of first-degree murder.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI's most wanted fugitives: Murder suspects and a convicted rapist