Homicide detectives this morning swore out an arrest warrant charging Ronald Lamont Russell Jr., 34, with murdering a man just after midnight outside a building in the Edgehill community on Deford Bailey Avenue.
Surveillance video shows Russell shooting the victim, James B. Cox III, 41, multiple times, including after Cox was down on the ground. Cox was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he died. Russell was brought to Vanderbilt by his mother for treatment of a minor head injury. While being assessed, he was overheard talking about being in a shootout.
Russell’s mother told detectives that he suffers from schizophrenia. Russell told his mother and detectives that he shot Cox because he believed Cox had cut off his sister’s leg (this is untrue as the woman had lost her limb due to medical complications).
During an interview with Russell at the hospital, he told detectives that he spotted Cox outside his sister’s apartment. He said he attempted to stab Cox in the neck with a kitchen knife, was unsuccessful, and wrestled with him to the ground. He said one of two guns Cox was carrying came loose. Russell said he grabbed it, chased Cox and shot him multiple times. He claimed that Cox also shot him, causing a graze wound. Russell said he threw the gun he used into a nearby field after the shooting. A nine-millimeter pistol was recovered. Russell reiterated that he wanted to kill Cox, whom he knew due to Cox being the nephew of Russell’s mother’s boyfriend.
Russell is undergoing a psychological evaluation. He will be booked on the murder warrant when he is discharged from the hospital.
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Ronald Lamont Russell Jr., 34