New killings frustrate anti-violence crusaders

Felice Roberson was more frustrated during the Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please meeting Tuesday than she has been in previous gatherings, in part because of two recent killings in Cape Girardeau.

The images of Andrel Dolphin Jr., 17, of Cape Girardeau being carted away from the scene of the shooting at 9:30 p.m. May 20 in the 200 block of Lorimier Street reminded her of her son Quinton Combs, 24, who was shot and killed in November on Frederick Street. There has yet to be an arrest in the Combs homicide.

“It’s all about protecting babies in Cape Girardeau,” Roberson, a founder of SNAP, said. “They showed that little boy on the gurney, and I’m sitting here bawling. I can’t quit. I saw that baby on the stretcher. ... I couldn’t even go to work.”

She said she has heard nothing new from police about her son’s homicide investigation. Police were absent from the SNAP meeting at the Salvation Army on Tuesday. Public Information officer Richard McCall said the officers who had been attending both were off-duty today.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger speaks during a Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please, or SNAP meeting Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau.Glenn Landberg

“You dirty dogs would kill my baby in the streets,” Roberson said about criminals on Cape Girardeau’s streets. “This is God’s business — I’m not mad at God, but you’re not going to kill my baby and still walk the streets. ... Y’all are going to know who killed my baby.”

Tai Twiggs’ brother, Zatrun, was slain in August 2014. She said her family, including her mother and SNAP member Pam Robinson, have not talked to police recently, either.

Twiggs also remarked on the recent violence in Cape Girardeau. About five hours before Dolphin was shot, the body of Domorlo McCaster, 28, of Cape Girardeau was found in a wooded area near Ranney Park.

“It’s ridiculous,” Twiggs said. “Nobody’s children deserve to be taken away like that — gunned down and thrown away like trash.”

McCall said there was no new information in the McCaster homicide investigation, even though police contacted Michael Anderson, Rodney Smith and Brian Jackson by Tuesday afternoon, all of whom police believed had information about the crime.

McCall said if an arrest is not made soon, the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad will disband. The Major Case Squad has offered a $5,000 reward for information in the case that leads to an arrest.

The overall message at the SNAP meeting was the same as previous ones. Mayor Harry Rediger summed it up in two points: People need to keep attending the meetings, preferably in greater numbers, to give a voice to the people in the community that are frustrated by violence; and people need to keep communicating with police.

Rediger also talked about Dolphin, saying he was a good kid, but he was not surprised he was in the wrong environment.

“Plow ahead; don’t give up,” Rediger said. “We have too much of a positive community here. We need to pay more attention to what’s going on in our neighborhoods.”

Rediger said more people have been using the anonymous police tip line, (573) 339-6313. There have been arrests in two of the three most recent homicides. Tavious Tipler, 19, of Cape Girardeau was charged with shooting Airious Darling, 28, of Cape Girardeau on March 31. Jonas Phillips, 27, of Charleston, Missouri, was charged with shooting Dolphin.

“We can’t just let this happen,” said Roberson’s sister, Lazetta Patton.

The circumstances around McCaster’s homicide, however, with McCaster being found dead in the woods, have inspired fear of a reprisal from a potential killer.

“Their human nature is gone,” Ashleigh Hope said of the potential killer in that case. “You have to be cold to do something like that.”

SNAP held a vigil for Dolphin at the corner of Lorimier and Bellevue streets after the meeting Tuesday.

There is an event planned for noon today at Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau also to honor Dolphin.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

701 S. Good Hope St., Cape Girardeau, MO