2 guys I train with... friends... one got drunk and shot the other, at one of my friends/instructors house on NYE. No one really knows WTF happened. I went to the seminar yesterday (see video) and another service tonight.
http://video.miami.cbslocal.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=5452206&at1=News&h1=Fundraiser Held For Ft. Lauderdale Man Shot By Friend On NYE&flvUri=&partnerclipid=
R.I.P. Reza. You will be missed.
dogboy: "The State of Florida has a very strict minimum sentencing policy known
as 10-20-Life:, which includes 10 years mandatory prison time for using a gun
during a crime, 20 years mandatory prison time for firing a gun during a crime,
and 25 to life mandatory prison time in addition to any other sentence for
shooting somebody, regardless of whether they survive or not."
...so does that mean 25+ no matter what? Or if he claims he was drunk out of
his mind it become a lesser crime, like manslaughter?
A Lawyer: "Ron's execution of Reza constituted first degree
murder. The State will likely file a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty. It's hard to imagine
that Ron has any viable defenses - so he would likely accept a plea deal "life
sentence" - no parole. If he does not, he will spend the next 25 years
appealing, before he is finally executed."
Been struggling to make sense of this one. Vagner posted a picture of all of them at 12:57 on Facebook...
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...arm around the shoulder that killed him, in front of his wife and baby less than 2 hours later. How fucked up is that one? If it wasn't for Reza, Ron wouldn't have even been there because HIS wife and kid were out of town.... Reza felt bad so insisted he come out with them.
At first I thought maybe a struggle ensued over keys, and a gun went off. Then I heard he was shot 4 times. So I came up with a scenario where they were close, and it was a 9mm, and the bullets just went straight through, and he kept fighting.... no. He was backing up, arms out, hands open. After he got shot once, he dropped to the ground. Ron then yelled something to his wife and shot him 3 more times on the ground.
sorry to hear this tragic new Dogboy and my thought go out to his family and friends
Time for a change
I've been thinking about it for days. And every day I found out a little more. And yet this problem is unsolvable. Every day Heather must wake up only for this to come crashing back down on her. Vagner had to clean the blood up. Fundamentally senseless. Maybe the best case you could use against me if you are anti-gun. And yet that was an illegal gun and he had no permit to carry. But this isn't the time for a debate about that... one is dead, and one is going to prison for life, and there are two young wives without husbands and two kids without fathers. Everyone loses.
This was the last picture they took together that night
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Anyway, thanks for your thoughts...
Sorry to hear that DB
Was he on anything else? Article says they were partying for NYE
The man I am dating is a Lutheran preacher. (Yeah. I know...WTF was I thinking?)
This summer, there was a kid who drowned at the local city swimming pool, and the entire town was really shaken up by it, and this was the story he told everyone:
He had a former church member of his up in South Dakota who was an old guy who had a massive stroke in the corn field. He was found 30 hours later, taken to a hospital and survived. In fact, he had a miraculous recovery and was actually ticking along pretty good.
He spoke of another member of his church who was a 37 year old runner in really good shape who went to his doctor's office (in a hospital) for a random checkup. He died in the hospital 2 hours later surrounded by doctors.
His point: The Lord takes you when he's gonna take you. Fair or not, when your time is up, it's up.
I don't know if this helps, but in something so senseless, you'll spin this around in your head so much it'll take too much out of you. I'm really sorry, DB.
If I had to guess, I would say pills, pain killers most likely and hard alcohol. This was indeed a party but despite what they may look like it was a really tame one. Wives and girlfriends and kids lighting off little fireworks. They weren't all trashed painting the town red. This was more of a family and close friends event.
As far as when your time is up, I agree. I try to live with that in mind. As far as making sense of things, I have to remind myself that is just my own compulsion. As far as the dinner it was absolutely horrible. An enormous amount of people showed up. They had a slideshow on the wall. People told stories on a microphone. They were all the same. You'd think he had a 1000 best friends by the stories these people told.
I saw his wife holding their baby. We both just burst into tears. they were high school sweethearts.
Dogboy, words fail us at a time like this.
I'm catching up on reading and this thread makes me sad beyond words.
I send a hug.
(((())))
Sorry Dogboy. I suppose it will eventually be explained, but it will never make sense.
Lost for words. My heart goes to the wifes and children.
That's f-ed up Rob. Sorry to hear about it.
Good God, Children were witness to this tragedy? *sighs* That makes it so much worse..
...again, I appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
Wow. I'm so sorry to hear this. That's is terrible.
I'm checking in for my first time after coming back from the memorial service for one of my closest and oldest friends. But he was 83, had led a wonderful and full life, had been in a wheelchair the last two years and died quietly in his sleep.
A tough pill for those who love him, of course, but I just can't imagine what you and your friends are going through after such a tragedy.
All my best thoughts!
Tom
Today at 2pm, Ron, the murderer, is going to try and get bond. There are going a bunch of us at the courthouse to help support his family and possibly leverage the decision (if that is possible) but I'm unsure whether they will let us in the courtroom.
I have to admit I didn't even think bond was on the table since it's likely a lifetime sentence and therefore I would assume the chance of him bolting are high.
How is Ron? I can't even imagine how he feels...if he feels anything.
No one knows. No one ever talked to him again, no one ever heard his side of the story. Reza had hundreds of friends that would give him the shirt off his back. Ron only had superficial friends that he would party with on occasion. He would show up at my place to watch the fights, along w other guys at the gym... we might bump into him at a pool party, etc. So there is no one that knows really anything, and the lawyers probably shut him up before he made any public statements. He killed him, drove away, and turned himself in about 50miles from the incident, in a fairly remote location.
The evidence, and the witnesses descriptions, basically just negate anything he could possibly say. I guess there is still a nagging question but no one really cares about the answer, if that makes sense.
So I showed up at the courthouse, along with maybe 60+(?) other people dressed in white memorial t-shirts, and stood in line to get a seat. And there weren't enough. They filled up the Victims side and spilled us over into the defendents side, and then finally asked 10 of us to step outside so that some people trying to sit on Ron's side came in. No one wanted to leave, but since I was literally the last one to get in, I walked out, so that there wouldn't be an issue. Outside there were maybe another 20 of us that didn't make the cut.
Ron was at the far corner, sitting by himself, with no one close to him at all. He looked straight ahead the entire time I was in the room, his face, expressionless, never once glancing anywhere but straight ahead. His parents were there, along with some family, but that was about it. His father, an extremely decorated military man was in formal attire. I hear they are Masons. I also know that once after partying with Ron, he drove away drunk with a friend of mine... and drove through some construction barriers until he slammed his car into a ditch, in FRONT of a cop. He was NOT arrested. At that point, we knew he had connections that went very deep... which is why we all aren't feeling too easy right now. All mutual friends, sat on the side of the victim. Reza's widow looked horrible and seems to have aged considerably since I saw her last in January. His mother was visibly shattered.
In the end, from what I hear, there was no decision, and we will have to wait a few days before they release the verdict.
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I thought you were friends with both guys? Did I misunderstand?
I was friends with both. Reza was much closer to me by far. Ron trained w us too and we partied together. Remember, this is South Florida... the word 'friend' is used loosely here.
But Reza was a man among men. He was notable. His warmth filled the biggest of rooms. Ron, on the other hand, is a known thug. But a thug we thought that was on our side.
Not sure what to say... I think of myself as a good person and I look for the good in all people.... But I don't always hang with good people. I don't know how to explain myself. I wear a white hat under my black one and my friends are a diverse crowd. So in some ways this was a statistical certainty. It was also a surprise. And the guy that died deserved it the least.
I definitely didnt bring it up here for you to feel bad for me. I posted it here because I didn't know what else to do. I also like people to see the best of what I see, as well as some of the worst. By showing both extremes, it's the only way I know to show you the balance, and that I don't spend my entire life in gummy bear land.
Someone once said they wished they were me and it really shocked me, until I realized that I had always just showed him the best, and never the flipside, and the image I was projecting, while accurate, wasn't the whole story, and if they knew what I knew, they definitely would think twice before they said something like that.
I don't know. This really isn't about me. I'm just here trying to make sense of it.
...so, I couldn't put this down today, and I ended up, as I usually do, processing everything with my buddy (that I posted about in that MMA thread) walking around in circles and then out on his balcony, over and over again. In particular, I was trying to better understand how Ron got out getting arrested that night, when he decided to go four wheeling in a live construction zone, coming back to my house with Marquino, from the strip club.
He told me it wasn't Ron that got himself out of trouble, by talking his way out... it was Reza that pulled up behind and talked the cop out of arresting Ron. And if it wasn't for him coming in and explaining the entire situation away, Ron would have been booked on the spot. He said, 'Ron walked away with a gun in his belt'. And even though I don't gamble, I'll bet you $100 that was the gun that killed him.
I couldn't make this sh## up if I tried...
Ron Melnik, confessed murderer
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>I think of myself as a good person and I look for the good in all people.... But I don't always hang with good people.
That says more about you than you know. You are an optimist, DB. And that is a very beautiful thing. You should never feel bad for doing that.
Ron was denied bond.
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which one is you ?
Ducati Jacket, black shirt, front row.
He walked away, a free man.
I have absolutely no idea wtf happened, but they finally had a trial, and let him go.
His father was a high ranking officer in the Navy. They also said he was a high level Mason. Hard to say if favors were called in, but Ron shot an unarmed man, in front of his friends and family, then turned him self in, and (I thought) confessed, in a State that supposedly has mandatory minimum jail time for offenses with a firearms, and was let go.