22-year-old Joshua Ringold, a murder fugitive in Mesa County, CO, eluded police after nearly being arrested following his accidental shooting of his own accomplice. The two were sought in the felony home invasion burglary of a Mesa County home. The two homeowners and Ringold’s 16-year-old accomplice were shot during the incident; the accomplice died.
There’s going to be a lot for Colorado criminal defense lawyers to sort out in this one-the dead accomplice, Cody R. English, was supposedly shot by accident during the confusion that resulted from an altercation with one of the homeowners, who allegedly struck one of the suspects with a lead pipe. The chest wound killed English, but the homeowner, who was also shot, survived the attack.
A third suspect in the case, 20-year-old Jeremiah Carey, has already been arrested and is being held without bond, charged with one count of aggravated robbery and burglary.
Police nearly caught Ringold once, tracking him to a house in the Orchard Mesa neighborhood, but he somehow managed to elude police and escape. Police have issued a reverse 9-1-1 warning to the neighborhood, advising residents that Ringold is still at large, should be considered armed and dangerous, and may even still be in the neighborhood. Currently, Ringold “is being sought for investigation of murder, attempted murder, aggravated robbery, burglary, two counts of first degree assault and menacing,” a laundry list of crimes that, if he is convicted, will see him spending a great deal of time behind bars.
There have been so many homicides in Colorado this year-already more than 2010, with still a month to go; it’s a tragedy when such young people who should have their entire lives ahead of them fall into criminal patterns that lead to the violent deaths of other young people.
