John Jefferson
Romi Frentescu (McLennan County Jail).
Police in Texas say a man shot two people to death before telling a woman who tried to help one of the victims to stop because he wanted him to die.
Romi Frentescu, 32, is facing two counts of capital murder in Saturday’s shooting in the city of Eddy, which is about 20 miles south of Waco. He’s accused of killing Michael Morris, 38, and his 18-year-old son, Braxton Johnson. According to an affidavit obtained by Waco CBS affiliate KWTX and NBC affiliate KCEN, Frentescu and Morris have had an ongoing feud. Shortly after 7 p.m. Frentescu was working on his motorcycle in front of his home when Morris stopped his vehicle and gave him the middle finger.
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Morris drove off and Frentescu said he followed him to Morris’ home about 2 miles away, the affidavit reportedly stated. Frentescu claimed the two got into a fight and Morris pulled out a switchblade knife. The accused murderer then reportedly said someone in a GMC Sierra tried to run him over and he had to hide behind a telephone pole to avoid being hit. Cops found the vehicle atop Frentescu’s motorcycle. Frentescu reportedly told police several people jumped him. As he was on the ground and surrounded by multiple people, he claimed he fired several shots in self-defense, the affidavit reportedly said. He then called 911.
But police reportedly noted in the affidavit that Frentescu did not have any injuries on his body that would indicate he was in a fight.
“There are discrepancies with Frentescu’s statement due to the trailer that the white GMC truck was pulling had fresh blood on the trailer tire and fender, making it likely that the GMC Sierra pulled up after the shooting had begun,” cops reportedly wrote.
Neighbors said they heard around five or six shots and saw a man running around with a gun. A passerby who is a nurse found Morris on the ground, bleeding and not breathing so she started chest compressions. That’s when a man in a Cossacks Motorcycle Club vest — later identified as Frentescu — came up her and told her to stop doing CPR because “he wanted the man to die,” the affidavit reportedly said.
Police arrived on scene and found the woman, who later told them she felt threatened by Frentescu while she was doing CPR. Paramedics pronounced Morris dead on scene and rushed Johnson to the hospital where he died. Frentescu is at the McLennan County Jail on a $1 million bond.
The Cossacks Motorcycle club gained notoriety in 2015 when it was among the clubs involved in a shootout with police and rival gang Bandidos that killed nine bikers and wounded 18 others.
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