‘Completely senseless’; Family remembers Stillwater murder victim
STILLWATER, Okla. (KFOR) - A family is reeling from the shock of a 20-year-old being murdered outside of a Stillwater club last week.
“It's devastating when you get a call like that in the middle of the night,” said Dimas De Leon Jr. “A loved one that just passed away in the blink of an eye for a dumb reason.”
He told KFOR he got that call around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 23. He was informed that his brother Marco had been shot outside of the Blue Diamond Cabaret on E 6th Street.
“It was completely senseless,” said Rockford Brown, the Public Information Officer for the Payne County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s absolutely no reason for that.”
According to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, De Leon was shot eight times during some sort of altercation. The suspect then drove off.
However, the search for the gunman didn’t last long. On Monday afternoon, Joaquin “Daniel” Ruiz-Medrano turned himself in.
“Came to the sheriff's office with his attorney, brought the firearm that was allegedly used in the incident," said Brown. “Mr. De Leon was unarmed, and multiple witnesses said he was unarmed… So, we’re not really sure why our suspect decided to pull out a gun and shoot our victim.”
Ruiz-Medrano is now locked in the Payne County jail, facing a first-degree murder charge.
Meanwhile, De Leon leaves behind a widow and a baby girl.
"He was just there at the wrong time, at the wrong place and it happened so fast,” said Dimas De Leon Jr. “He was a hardheaded kid. But he had a big heart. He had a big heart, and he touched a lot of hearts before he left… We’re never going to forget about him and I’m sure his friends and wife and family are never going to forget about him either.”
The family has set up a Go Fund Me Page to help support his wife and daughter. The link can be found here.