Sentencing for local man found guilty of murder set this week; authorities update cases against 3 others arrested

BEAUMONT — Sentencing for a Port Arthur man convicted last week in the killing of Richard Shillow, 31, will be held April 18 in the 252 ^nd District Court.

A jury found 24-year-old Ronald Babino guilty Thursday in Judge Raquel West’s court.

The fatal shooting occurred March 27, 2022, at 2250 W. Virginia Street in Beaumont.

Ronald Demard Babino Jr.

Babino, who was one of five people arrested in connection with the Beaumont homicide, was indicted in June of 2022 by a Jefferson County grand jury.

Co-defendant Joseph Freeman, 19, is set to go to court June 3 in the 252 ^nd District Court, and Charles Verdine, 20, is set to go to court June 10, according to information from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.

Kaylon Johnson, now 18, was a juvenile at the time of the crime and later certified to stand trial as a adult. He pleaded guilty to the charge of murder on July 25, 2023, and was sentenced to 25 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Information on the other suspect who was a juvenile at the time of the crime was not available Friday.

Richard Shillow’s death occurred in the 2200 block of West Virginia Street in Beaumont at 7:28 p.m. March 22, 2022.

Security footage obtained near the area showed two men approaching the victim in his parked vehicle, opening the passenger door and firing at least one round, documents say.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. the same day, a Beaumont police officer was flagged down at a gas station in the 3000 block of West Cardinal Drive in reference to an auto theft.

Surveillance video from that crime reportedly showed the same vehicle and suspects involved in Shillow’s shooting.

The theft victim was able to track the vehicle, and officers located it in the area of The Avenues. A brief vehicle chase occurred before the driver stopped at The Woodlands of Beaumont apartment complex and five men fled on foot, the documents say.

With the assistance of a K-9, five suspects were arrested.

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