On Monday, we told you about the shooting of 28 year-old Ronald Rivers. Well, the man who police believe could have been the shooter is at prison tonight.
As we reported, at 10:30 a.m., Rivers was fixing his Ford Escape at the Bel-China UNO gas station when two men reportedly rode up on bicycle and shot him in the face. Rivers slumped over the back seat, and he somehow survived the attack. He was rushed to the KHMH in a critical condition.
Fortunately, police officers were on patrol at the corner of Vernon Street and Youth for the Future Drive when they heard the sound the gunshot which nearly killed Rivers. One of the officers saw a young man, identified as, 18 year-old Lloyd King, riding away, and he was attempting to shove what looked like a gun into his pants.
The officers pursued him, as he went down Johnson Street. When he arrived in front of the Matron Roberts Polyclinic, he got off his bike, and tried to escape through an alley. In his haste, he tripped, and fell, and the officers were able to catch up and detain him.
When officers searched him, they found a rusty .38 special revolver with three live rounds in his pocket. He was arrested and charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm, and keeping unlicensed ammunition.
He was arraigned today before Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith, where he surprised the court and pleaded guilty to both charges.
He had nothing to say in mitigation, and Chief Magistrate Smith sentenced him to serve 5 years in prison for each offence. They will run concurrently, and as a result, he will only spend a total of 5 years.
The motive for River's shooting is not known - but reports to 7News were that the vehicle had shut down at the gas station from earlier that Monday morning - and he had been trying to fix it.
If you're wondering why he wasn't charged for attempted murder, the DPP's office is still building the case against King for that, and the decision to charge him is still pending. And to hear the victim's family tell it, the shooting could have well resulted in murder. Today we spoke to Raymond Rivers, elder brother of Ronald Rivers who told us his brother has been having some serious medical difficulties and needs help:
Raymond Rivers - Brother of Shooting Victim
"Firstly, this is about the forth CAT scan the hospital will have to take. It's costly and the hospital is running out of room they're telling us. They nearly sent us home, the elevator isn't working so he can go upstairs and take this surgery. This shot that he got is somewhere close to the brain area, so I am concern. It looks like the hospital does not have any staff to really take care of the people in the hospital. I am just coming on the news to look for a little donation so we can move him to Medical Associates where he will get better treatment there, and those people know will know what to do. I believe it will be better for him. Ronald is well known in the streets; he is not a trouble person of that sort. He can't swallow and he could not breathe well. Due to the elevator not working, they could not take him upstairs to take the surgery. They can't see where the bullet is located with all the CAT scan they took. Next week I want to have a barbeque sale right here on Antelope street extension, to raise some money to pay for the bill, because you know it will be a hefty bill at that place. Basically that is about it, but we want to make all the basketball friends and everybody I the community, the area rep. I take a shot to the head serious, I am not a doctor but I take these things serious. It's different than your foot or the hand, this is somewhere in the head and now he is feeling numbness in half of his body and soon he will not be able to move it. I am asking the public to help and I hope we get a good response."
If you would like to assist Ronald Rivers you can do so at account number 5-1-6-2-1 at the Holy Redeemer Credit Union or contact his relatives at telephone numbers 6-3-3-2-9-7-3 or 6-5-0-2-6-2-3. Also a fundraising barbeque sale will be held on Antelope Street on Saturday March 16th.
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