Family Upset with Police as Ronald Cole is Detained, Despite Being a Victim
Egbert Baldwin
Egbert Baldwin was shot and killed over the past weekend; police are yet to crack that murder. But a man, who happened to be at the wrong place at the time of the fatal shooting, is now in police custody. He is Ronald Cole, who was at a shop, when a stray bullet hit him. Cole was taken to the hospital but soon enough he was detained by police. His family is irate because they claim Cole cannot read or write but is being forced to sign a statement while in custody. Here is News Five’s Duane Moody with a report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
No charges have been levelled as yet against persons in custody for the July eighteenth murder of Egbert Baldwin and shooting of Ronald Cole in Ladyville. Cole was at a shop on Vasquez Avenue in the Japan area of the village when shooters took aim at an unsuspecting Baldwin; a stray bullet hit the forty-four-year-old in the thigh and he was hospitalized. But upon his release from the K.H.M.H., Cole’s relatives say he was taken into custody.
Voice of: Sister of Shooting Victim
“The following day after he got shot, he was picked up like he is a damn criminal. They locked up my brother for forty-eight hours; not even receiving food or water from us and I think that is totally wrong. My brother is innocent. He is a victim. He got shot. Now they have my brother running; I don’t know where is my brother.”
Around seven o’clock that night, a barrage of bullets was fired at Baldwin who was travelling towards the junction of Vasquez and Egbert Quilter Avenues. Despite being shot multiple times, Baldwin ran through several properties but collapsed a short distance away.
Darrell Humes
Darrell Humes, Resident [File: July 20th, 2020]
“When I heard the shots and I came to the window and I looked out, I could only see fire. I only heard the shots, like a celebration, like Christmas when you hear them firecrackers and so on. It was like that. When the shots died down and I came out to the gate here and look up the street and someone was coming from up there and I inquired because I saw the movement. I couldn’t tell you who all was involved, but I saw the movement. I saw the person running through that way and running down.”
Hilberto Romero
Sr. Supt. Hilberto Romero, Deputy Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“Upon their arrival, they found Egbert Baldwin, twenty-two years, with gunshot injuries to the body and Ronald Cole, forty-four years, with a gunshot injury to the leg. They were both taken to the K.H.M.H. where Egbert Baldwin thereafter succumbed to his injuries. This is a result of ongoing rival between two groups in that area. They had incidents in the past. Egbert Baldwin had just been released from prison and he was in that area and he was targeted.”
Voice of: Sister of Shooting Victim
“What does my brother see? My brother see nothing. When he heard the gunshot, my brother says he fell on the ground, but the police is forcing my brother to speak. Speak what? They are forcing him. I really upset. These police need to go and do their job the right way. Go look of their criminal, my brother is not a criminal.”
As a victim of the gun violence, Cole has been left traumatized. His sister alleges that Cole is being mistreated.
Voice of: Sister of Shooting Victim
“I am so upset with the police department. I am really upset with the police department. They are forcing my little brother to sign a form and he is being threatened by this police. And if he doesn’t sign, they are threatening to put a change on him. My brother is innocent. My brother has a little disability; he cannot read or write. How come they will force him to sign a form. And what we understand that the form is to do an ID parade and I think that is totally wrong. I feel sad. I don’t know what next. Who can I turn to? Who can we go to cause this is out of order. The police are threatening my brother.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
